Oh geezzzz another term in social media.  No not really I just call it that because I'm lazy in my blogging sometimes.  Geo Location services are building and fast, in fast they were in my "what to watch for in 2010".  Restaurants I think will reap rewards on this more than most other industries, though you can take a look at Mashables post on this topic as well.

Here is my take with Foursquare and Gowalla and the many more coming our way.  It really all boils down to where the audience is and they are not on these services yet.  If Twitter or Facebook starts to allow "Checkins" to occur on their networks, you can say goodbye to the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla since there will be a flood of new open apps that will be based on those two platforms.  It's kind of like comparing this situation to search with Google - you can't take on Google in search unless to have a sliver of a niche they don't care about.  Example: Yelp and Urbanspoon and even Opentable for that matter, In my opinion these services will be gone once google takes the mobile advertising direction they are planning "say the word Nexxus".  Search has a Mayor right now and it won't be Yelp or others that oust them even in the restaurant space.

Restaurants will reap the rewards because search and Geo Location will become a major part of how you conduct business. 

In the next couple of years you will be able to do the following through a Google search (web or mobile) Place and order, get a reservation, rate a restaurant and view reviews all in real-time. 

In the next couple of years you will do this with Twitter and Facebook: see all your friends that are at the restaurant, plan a social meetup with your followers or friends, see how social a restaurant really is, gauge where the crowds are, find the cool places through social search and the list goes on.

What do you do as a restaurant operator?  Get social, start blogging and making video, it will save you by this time next year and it will make a difference in how the real social web sees you.  Marketing, branding and promotion just got Geo-Lo'd.  Everything you want all based on where you are standing right now.

More on Twitter

(photo by Mashable)

Posted via email from Paul Barron's Social Coco