Launched in 2009, the social networking app Foursquare was hailed as providing a cutting-edge approach for users to share their location with friends. Called a “check-in,” people would reveal their location through their mobile device by selecting the venue they were frequenting at that time.
The app grew immensely popular as users around the world accumulated points for spending time at their favorite retailers, restaurants, nightclubs, libraries or other venues. But the excitement around this movement soon abated as users began to realize that there was no utility around the points they had collected.
Now there’s a startup called FlipNpik [1]that’s offering a new approach to this idea. This collaborative social media platform, dedicated to local businesses and connected to blockchain technology, allows users to monetize their social media engagement through a decentralized network where value is created and equitably distributed among FlipNpik’s community.
Major drivers behind the company’s creation were concerns on the part of small- to medium-sized businesses, particularly local ones, regarding the dominance of major advertising players like Facebook offering few promotional options to small enterprises with a limited budget. Predicated on the cultivation of mutually beneficial relationships, FlipNpik provides a robust setting for small businesses and community users to actively engage with one another in productive commerce.
Fostering a Two-Way Partnership
Through the use of FlipNpik’s creatively designed platform, businesses are able to obtain visibility and promotional buzz through the use of tools that allow them to compete with much larger advertising chains that have budgets that give them a major strategic advantage.
Consumers, by way of FlipNpiks’ participatory model, are able to tap into monetary incentives tied to their social media posts that show support for their favorite places. These users can also participate in various other incentive-based activities such as adding new businesses to the app or by becoming an “Ambassador Partner.”
In return for these activities, active users receive Flip Social, a reward
