Yelp Battles Foursquare, Gowalla With Check-In Features and Monocle in Latest Version
Yelp’s taking on all comers with the latest version of their location-based business and places search by adding check-in features and tying that into their augmented reality feature – named Monocle. Yelp 2.0 brings the ever-growing popularity of location check-in services (such as Foursquare and Gowalla) and the newly-trending features of augmented reality (such as Layar, among others) into a nice package that becomes your one stop shop for location based features.
Check-ins – much like you’d find on other apps – allows you to broadcast your current location to your friends on Yelp, Facebook, and soon to be Twitter. Your Yelp friends with the app will get the added urgency of being able to receive a push notification the moment you check-in somewhere (if that doesn’t exude the meaning of “stalking”, then I don’t know what will).
Another cool, unique feature about Yelp’s check-ins is that it ties in with Yelp’s business reviews features to prominently show reviews by people who check-in to that particular business often. All the more reason to give your favorite restaurants even more of your money so you can feel special with your review leading the pack!
That’s not the only reason you’d want to check-in to your favorite spots often, though. Yelp’s using the concept of “Regulars” to help promote frequent check-ins wherever you go. They’re looking to partner with a good amount of businesses to offer incentives to people who check-in at certain places often. Sort of like those cheesy “the more you drink, the more you eat!” places in Mexico.
Finally, you can use Monocle to not only see businesses, but to see where your Yelp friends have checked in just by looking through an augmented reality browser. They’ve also added a cool new map view that moves with you. For more information on Yelp 2.0, head over to their blog now.