The 2010 midterm elections in the United States will one day be looked back on as the dawn of locationbased social networking in politics. This is set to be the next hot tool for political campaigning, and it all started with a few simple, fun-touse mobile phone applications.

In 2009, two new phone-based social networking programmes - Foursquare and Gowalla - were launched, enabling people to identify themselves with specifi c locations in real-time. And this year, Facebook announced thelaunch of its own location-based service - Facebook Places.

The technology uses GPS tracking to pinpoint users' exact locations via their mobile phones. The user can then ‘check-in' at a location - notifying people in their network of their whereabouts and automatically posting updates on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. An example from Foursquare would look like: "Melanie just checked-in @ Matthew's Diner (Waldwick, NJ)."

Each service has its own specific features. With Foursquare, users can add ‘tips' or comments about the venue they've checked-in to ("Best home fries you'll ever have!"). Users can also compete to earn ‘badges' for achieving certain milestones, such as reaching a certain number of check-ins. They can even be named ‘mayor' of a venue by being the person that visited the place the most often in 60 days. (At one point during the British general election, Vince Cable briefl y became mayor of 11 Downing Street.) Similarly, on Gowalla, visitors receive a ‘stamp' at each destination they check-in to, and ‘pins' for achieving milestones.

For all their fun and games, locationbased services are already delivering dividends for business. Brands such as Gap, Starbucks and Zagat, are using the tools to drive sales, issuing discounts and offers to users who check-in to their locations. Universities are making use of it too. But what about the political world?

On election day in the US, Foursquare encouraged users to check-in at polling stations and leave comments encouraging friends to vote. Those who did were rewarded with an ‘I Voted' badge. Similarly, Gowalla voters received a virtual pin. Throughout the day, Foursquare had a live, interactive map of check-ins at each polling site, with a running tally of voters.

Though there were just 50,416 check-ins, a drop in the ocean compared to the more than 11 million people that said ‘I Voted' on Facebook, the project was a pilot to test how location-based technology, and the data gathered from it, could be useful in future elections if developed on a larger scale.

Tech-savvy politicians have been early adopters of locationbased check-in services. Last spring, Patrick Kennedy, a candidate for Congress from Arkansas, was the first politician to use Foursquare. And New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn started checking-in when she attended meetings at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City Hall.

Until now, politicians using these services have mainly done so for the novelty, though the tool does have the advantages of creating a buzz about a campaign's activities while raising awareness through real-time updates of a candidate's whereabouts that are amplifi ed on their Facebook and Twitter networks. It is unclear, however, whether this has had any tangible effect on voting behaviour.

With these services moving into the next phase in their development, the opportunities for campaigns are growing.

Gowalla is developing tools specifically for politicians, with new features allowing campaigns to create events that supporters can check-in to and receive a campaign stamp with the candidate's logo. Supporters will also be able to use Gowalla to register their local campaign events. Gowalla's ‘trips' feature also encourages people to attend a series of events or a campaign tour to earn a stamp or pin.

Foursquare is also rolling out its next stage of innovation. A ‘to dos' feature offers an opportunity for users to save venues as reminders to attend. That's an opportunity for campaigns to give notice of upcoming events and promote attendance. Location-based services are still in their infancy. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, just four per cent of online adults currently use location-based services. Nonetheless, smart phone use is on the rapid rise, and the recent launch of Facebook Places could make the use of locationbased services more mainstream.

The question for the 2012 US election is not whether politicians will be using it, but which presidential candidate will be the first to check-in. 

Tags: Issue 31