The Top London Ad Agencies by Foursquare Check-in (21.10.2010) [Infographic]

London Foursquare Ad Agency Rankings (21.10.2010)

Well the only thing scarier than the psudo Halloween motif we've gone with for the pre-Halloween version of the infographic might be the clustering in the bottom left of the graph. This might be forgiven though, as McCann's immense check-in growth is a problem to scale no matter how you cut it. It really seems to illustrate the power of consolidating locations and driving activity, to the level of doubling check-ins since the last time I tried a Foursquare ad infographic. 
Also interesting is the staying power of Foursquare Activity relative to the launch of Facebook Places. It seems that agencies are slower to adopt Facebook's location platform than pre-launch hype might have suggested. At the least, it seems that users who picked up Foursquare have carried on, regardless of other options.

The Top London Ad Agencies by Foursquare Check-in (06.08.2010)

I decided to do something a bit different than the normal top 30 infographic with the Foursquare check-in data. While the infographic may still come out at some point, I thought it might be easier and more useful to try out Tableau public and visualize the data as a dashboard. First attempt is below, though I may modify it for more functionality as time goes on.

Powered by Tableau

Geo-location and Privacy: A Subtle Balance

This post is also featured on the recently launched "Typing On The Wall" Blog.....

Location Based Social Networking (LBSN) is prominent within the media zeitgeist at the moment, driven by the increasing growth of the category's current darling, Foursquare. As Foursquare recently added its 2,000,000th user and its 100,000,000th check-in, some can argue that the increasing growth rate (having added its 1,000,000th user only 3 months ago) and press coverage of the network are currently the most prominent stories.







CNN partnered with Foursquare during the World Cup to direct users to check-in at certain locations worldwide, unlocking badges and interacting with content


Given the company's growth rate and the utilization of the network by advertisers such as Domino's, the Huffington Post and CNN, this may be set to change. For media however, questions about Foursquare and other LBSNs go past the common questions of user growth and campaign concepts into "What insights can the network's data generate?"

Campaign metrics are key to creating attractiveness for advertisers, as greater data availability allows marketers to justify activity and modify comms efforts. Standing conversely against data availability however is user privacy.







User privacy concerns are inherent in social networking, but even more so when dealing with a user's location history. Sites such as PleaseRobMe.com popped up early on in the emergence of the current geo-location trend, highlighting a feed of users exposing their locations through auto posts onto Twitter. Concerns about user privacy have also been illustrated in recent studies, with a recent US/UK survey showing 55% of respondents worry about privacy relating to geo-location (Webroot).

Balancing privacy, key to growing the base of active users, and providing useful data & insights, key to growing advertiser investment, means that LBSNs must strike a careful balance as both network operators and data providers. Foursquare's solution to this issue has been two fold, providing basic data about venues & friends through the API (Application Programming Interface), while also providing business level analytics to venues claimed by the owners.

Given the open nature of the API, anyone can obtain a key and begin obtaining data and building applications, data is limited to what is available on the website. User specific data is limited to friends, while venues can provide the current amount of check-ins, who the mayor is and venue information. Data from the API is useful to monitor popular venues for a certain area or to create visualizations such as these, but it doesn't provide the specific level of data required to manage a large amount of CRM or loyalty plans.

Alternatively, the Foursquare analytics dashboard for a venue currently displays check-in data over time, different time periods and whether users clicked through to provided Facebook & Twitter links. In addition, it provides a stream of recent check-ins & top users, creating the ability to target individual users based on their behaviour for promotions. User check-ins not relevant to the specific venue are still protected.

Foursquare's approach to data visibility balances user privacy with metric creation in a way that provides venues an opportunity to customize promotions, while not risking user outrage by making data completely public to marketers. This strategy seems to be the way forward for LBSNs, as it encourages growth by unlocking the value of the network's data, without leveraging the privacy of the user base.

The Top 30 London Ad Agenices on Foursquare (for 16.07.2010)

Thanks to everyone who suggested new venues on Twitter, by email or in the comments last time. I've added quite a few new listings to the overall list. I'm hoping to upload the full list and simplified data in a few days, once I can plug it into some quick data visualization software for a post.

Also, I've fixed a bug in the aggregator that combined data from Proximity London & SapientNitro, so you should see these as distinct entries now.

As always, if you think that I've missed an agency or location to add to the search list, just email/DM or comment.

.jpg Version below (click to enlarge)

The Top London Ad Agenices on Foursquare (for 29.06.2010) [Infographic]

 As always, if you think that I've missed an agency or location to add to the search list, just email/DM or comment.

.jpg Version below (click to enlarge)

London Advertising Agencies on Foursquare (14.06.2010) [Infographic]

 As always, if you think that I've missed an agency or location to add to the search list, just email/DM or comment.

.jpg Version below (click to enlarge)

London Advertising Agencies on Foursquare (28.05.2010) [Infographic]

    So given that the last London Foursquare Agency graphic was a bit more graphic than info, I decided to add a little bit on the current version. I've posted the current infographic in both .pdf and .png formats. Also, thanks to Sinead Doyle for publicising the last Foursquare ranking post on her blog.  

Click for Larger Version....  As always, if you think that I've missed an agency or location to add to the search list, just email/DM or comment.

Foursquare & Central London Transport [Infographic]

Note:.jpg version at bottom of blog post....

     Lately, I and others have been looking at Foursquare/Gowalla & the like to analyze geolocation data and wrap our heads around what its all about (hence the explosion of Foursquare data in the blog lately). More robust data is being developed, but while this doesn't promise to do any of that, I thought it would be worthwhile to try my hand at another infographic. With this in mind, I thought that the network's potential in generating transport insight might be worthwhile and without providing anything groundbreaking, the takeaways from comparing how people register their travel were pretty interesting.

     As mentioned in the graphic, people seem to be registering locations while on the go, as tube stations aren't nearly as popular as train & tube/train stations. I know that some locations are naturally busier, Charing Cross vs. Brixton for example), but the under performance of some tube stations in popular locations (Leicester Square), means that not nearly as many people are checking in after the fact as would be expected.

     Aside from this, the variety of places people checked in is quite amazing. From buses (shown in the graphic) to planes & a few boats (not shown), people are dynamically logging information when possible.

     Perhaps the most striking fact from the data however, was the lack of dual or superfluous locations. Being that most seek to be mayor of somewhere, you would assume to see more distinctions of tube vs. train stations (for instance, Charing Cross is only listed as one entity). The multitude of people who check in from platforms within a train station however (not shown in final version of graphic), may counteract some of this.

    Overall, I think as the service grows, we should see more people fleshing out London's transport network in line with what we would expect. From this sampling of transportation options, the network is already beginning to be represented well.

[Development Notes: I selected a subset of tube stations to represent due to the fact that I was drawing the map underneath it. TFL is rather touchy about the rights to their map, so I wanted to make sure that mine was divergent enough to not be derivative (hence noticeable differences I've made sure are present).

If this goes over well, I'm considering expanding it to a longer version (including everything that I noted was missing), so if you have any thoughts or ideas, just let me know.

.jpg Version (Click to Enlarge):

Top London Agencies by Foursquare Check-ins (14.05.2010)

Agency:	Id:	Check-ins:
1.) McCann London	172633	684
2.) Wieden+Kennedy	219558	579
3.) DLKW	154868	493
4.) Agency Republic	154743	488
5.) Mindshare	161142	439
6.) MediaEdge CIA	537324	353
7.) Dare Digital	154565	339
8.) Saatchi & Saatchi	244912	303
9.) PHD	173059	288
10.) Profero	161146	265
11.) We are social	1168488	251
12.) Digitas London	154598	240
13.) SapientNitro	154900	235
14.) MPG/Media Contacts	1200388	232
15.) Mediacom	203677	203
16.) Wunderman	605057	202
17.) BBH London	154630	190
18.) Zed Media	154651	190
19.) glue London	523581	174
20.) AMV BBDO	171053	168
21.) Publicis	236312	152
22.) Ogilvy	156590	144
23.) LBi London	154854	140
24.) Fallon London	183035	137

25.) Rocket

538270

133

(Click for large version)

      As with last week's attempt at pulling Foursquare check-ins for advertising/media around London, 105 existing advertising agencies and 4 new locations were analyzed through Foursquare activity.With only two weeks of complete data, I'm still reconciling merged venues and entries with incomplete or closed duplicates.

      I know many agencies have a variety of check-in locations within their offices (3rd floor desk with some interesting tips at a certain advertising agency...I'm looking at you), but I chose the most popular/obvious choice presented to me, much in the way a new visitor to an office might. If you have an agency you feel I've left off (there are many), and you have enough check-ins to place you in the top 25, message me on Twitter (@dubosecole), email me or leave a comment and I'll add your Foursquare ID on the list for next time.

London's Agencies Squared: How London Advertising/Media Agencies Rank Up on Foursquare....

        As I mentioned in my last post about the Psychology of Foursquare, I've been looking into data aggregation and analysis of geo-located networks lately. While I wouldn't want the blog to become a 'one concept pony', I thought it would be interesting to see how agencies around London use Foursquare, since adoption around the industry is key to driving new networks and ideas.

 One aggregation engine & a list of IPA agencies later, I've managed to pull together a rough 'league table' of the top 25 advertising and media agencies in London by check-ins (as of 4/5/2010).

Agency	Id	Check-ins
1. McCann Erickson Advertising Ltd	172633	660
2. Wieden & Kennedy London	219558	529
3. Agency Republic	154743	460
4. Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners Ltd	154868	446
5. MindShare	161142	385
6. Dare	154565	297
7. Saatchi & Saatchi	244912	288
8. Profero Ltd	161146	259
9. Digitas	154598	227
10. PHD Media Ltd	173059	217
11. Proximity London	154900	187
12. Wunderman Ltd	605057	178
13. Bartle Bogle Hegarty Ltd	154630	178
14. Zed Media (Branch of ZenithOptimedia UK Limited)	154651	178
15. MediaCom	203677	178
16. Mediaedge:cia	537324	153
17. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Ltd	171053	148
18. LBi Limited	154854	138
19. Publicis Ltd	236312	138
20. MPG Media Contacts	1200388	133
21. Media Contacts (Branch of MPG Media Contacts)	1200388	133
22. Glue London Ltd	523581	130
23. Ogilvy Advertising Ltd	156590	128
24. Fallon London	183035	122
25. MediaVest	208064	116

       By taking the agency list and searching rather quickly through Foursquare, I've managed to compile the main Foursquare IDs for a variety of agencies (Currently 105 in total). I know many agencies have a variety of check-in locations within their offices (3rd floor desk with some interesting tips at a certain advertising agency...I'm looking at you), but I chose the most popular/obvious choice presented to me, much in the way a new visitor to an office might. I'm also aware, as many of you have probably thought, that there are many agencies left out by using only the IPA website list. If you have an agency you feel I've left off (there are many), and you have enough check-ins to place you in the top 25, message me on Twitter (@dubosecole), email me or leave a comment and I'll add your Foursquare ID on the list for next time.