Google has been trying hard over the last few years to compete in many different markets and industries. Most recently Google has looked to grasp market share in the social media space with the launching of Google+. It has not been as wildly successful as they had planned, but has not given up with the launching of Google Latitude Leaderboard. Latitude has been around for over a year with the capability for users to use location based software to help friends and colleagues find them. The latest update to Google Maps has users collecting points for checking in at their favorite businesses or other locations. Users are ranked among many categories including overall points as well as points per specific location.
Google has quietly gone about updating this application only for the Android market so far by simply saying the update is for bug fixes and improved battery performance for Latitude. There is little mention, if at all, of talk about competing against location-based app Foursquare. Google is not the first to challenge Foursquare, with Facebook launching Facebook Places and Facebook Deals last year.
Latitude Leaderboard is integrated with Google+ in that users are able to see where their circles are, but can also filter out certain circles to not be able to know where you're located. With Leaderboard, users are able to see where they rank among their circles in Google+. Those with the number one ranking in the standings get a crown placed above their top ranking. There are not "mayors" like there in Foursquare.
The more check-ins at a particular spot creates a status change the more often the user is present at a given location. A user begins as a "visitor" and then moves towards "regular", "VIP", and "Guru." One of my favorite parts of this new application is that businesses are able to not only create their own deals but can have custom status icons and names for their patrons. Who wouldn't want to be the "Burger Master" at a favorite burger joint or "El Presidente" at a delicious taco stand? The possibilities are endless for business owners to create a buzz.
As Google gets more accustomed to the social media industry there is no telling what they might do next. For now, Google will be working on expanding its Latitude Leaderboard to other smartphone operating systems and then we can only wait for what will come in the future. Google wants to be a strong player in the market and won't stop until their applications in this space become huge successes.