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Foursquare with Cash Rewards? WeReward Wants to Pay you for Check-ins

via ReadWriteWeb by Sarah Perez on 5/26/10

New from IZEA, the company that wants to monetize everything from blog posts to tweets, is WeReward, a mobile social networking application that promises to pay you for checking in to local businesses via your mobile phone. Launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt, the startup already supports 15 million U.S. businesses and has Domino's Pizza as a sponsor.

Is this the winning model for location-based social networking? Or are the payouts too small to make it worth the hassle?

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With WeReward, You Can Still Play Foursquare

The interesting thing about WeReward - besides the cash payouts, of course - is the fact that it's not just another standalone location-based mobile network. That is, it's not trying to be Foursquare - it's integrating with it.

To use WeReward, you search for a nearby business you want to check in to and, like most other location-based social networks, you can optionally add a comment or tip. However, on WeReward, you don't check in so much as you "claim" your points. Another button lets you check in via Foursquare, if you use that service, or share your check-in via Facebook or Twitter.

Earning Points: Harder than it Looks?

Here's where the setup gets a little tricky. You can't just say you're at the restaurant, bar, club, etc. - you have to prove it. With a photo. You can either take a photo of your receipt or of yourself at the business. The actual task may vary depending on the advertiser (the business itself).

Only after you share the photo and the advertiser approves it will you be rewarded for the check-in. Payouts are sent via PayPal.

Also of note, the amount of money you receive per check-in will vary based on what the advertiser wants to pay. You receive points for each check-in and one point equals one cent. Some advertisers may offer several hundreds of points to make it worth your while, others may only offer a few. It's entirely up to them. (Domino's is offering 25 to start.) Points may also be used towards other products or services in some cases.

Until we have a chance to test out the service ourselves, we can't vouch for the payout amounts or speak to whether it's worth your time to jump through these sorts of hoops. But assuming the check-in-to-reward ratio is high enough, it could entice people to try it out. We could all use an extra $10, right?

Check-ins for Brands and an API

In a phone interview, we spoke with IZEA's CEO Ted Murphy, who explained to us that the service won't just be isolated to physical check-ins, but could also offer "check-ins for brands." For example, a soda company could let you check in (so to speak) by having you take a photo of you buying the beverage at the grocery store. Be sure to smile in your photo, though, because the terms of service authorizes the brand to re-use the image online, like on their Facebook page for example. The only exception is for receipt photos - those will not be re-used.

The most intriguing aspect of the service, however, is the API. Still being tested now, this tool will allow developers to integrate WeReward into their existing location-based apps in order to add in a rewards layer that pays you to check in. That means that Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, UrbanSpoon and any other location-services company could offer points and rewards to users without having to start up a service of their own. Users could then continue to launch their own favorite location-based app when they want to check-in somewhere and still reap the benefits. Murphy says he's not all that interested as to whether people use the WeReward app or not, he just wants people using the service. That being said, the company will launch its own Android and Blackberry apps in the future.

As to the dollar amounts you earn via check-ins? They won't be too large - maybe 10-15% of whatever the item, product, purchase or service you would be buying. Check in for a fancy meal at an upscale restaurant and that could mean real savings on your total bill. Check in to a bottle of soda and it's more about having a little fun and seeing your photo go live on the Web, maybe.

For now, the 15 million businesses supported at launch aren't actual participants - IZEA is footing the bill. When a business signs up as an advertiser, IZEA will take 50% of the reward. That means if the end user's reward is one dollar, the advertiser was willing to pay $2.00.

WeReward is currently available for the iPhone only. You can sign up to try it here. It should arrive in the App Store later this week.

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