Where's the beef?

In my last post I wrote about the need to come up with a better value proposition for MR participants. We are not the only ones facing this problem. Check out this TechCrunch piece on how location-based services are struggling with the same thing...

...they’re not giving us any good reason to use them. Look at their web sites. Gowalla proclaims, “Discover the extraordinary in the world around you.” Foursquare says, “Unlock your city.” To which I say: “Oh, come on“ — and it seems I speak for approximately 96% (formerly 95%) of the population. I have no interest in enlisting in a virtual scavenger hunt, or unlocking merit badges — what is this, the Cub Scouts? ...If they want to reach the majority who don’t care about making it to Mayor, they need to abandon their pretense of fun, stop pussyfooting around with silly slogans, and make their value proposition stark, simple, and profoundly unsexy: “Check in and get coupons.”

And we can't talk about value propositions without a shout-out to one of the best there ever was.