It is a straightforward concept : Take your iPhone to a place like Ichiban Japanese Cafe in central Orlando, snap an image of yourself eating a tuna roll and post it on Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare. A mobile application called WeReward was launched by an Orlando-based social-media selling firm called IZEA last month. It's the first of the supposed "location-based applications " that offers precise money to its users.

WeReward is restricted to the iPhone for the moment, but the company asserts it'll be offered for the Droid the month after next, followed by the BlackBerry. Location-based social networks are fast rising in popularity in the digital world. This permits buddies to know where the users are or users can find others in the same area. Users can get "badges " or gloating rights as "mayor " of a selected place. WeReward isn't directly competing with those programmes, asserted Ted Murphy, IZEA's founder. "Our model is everybody gets compensated with cash, " he revealed. "What gets listed is reliant on who is ready to pay [users] the most. " Users get a penny per point, but enterprises set up their own rates per visit. As an example, Domino's Pizza, one of the key franchises already on board, offers twenty-five cents for a check-in with a pizza, Murphy related. When they reach one thousand points, users can cash out $10 on PayPal, an online-payment system. The companies discover who checked in, how much they spent and on what. They can see other stores the users went to and what they acquired there. Firms could even contact the individual thru Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare. He checks in at his common stops, like Chipotle and Chick-fil-A. The Dr Phillips resident earned 5 hundred points by taking an image of himself eating a Taco Bell taco, he claimed. "It essentially paid for my lunch, " he revealed.

Murphy aims at adding products to the list. As an example, Jones Soda Inc is signed on, and users can take a photograph with a soda anywhere for the points. Lee Raine, director of Pew Center's Web and American Life Project, called WeReward a "natural progression " in the use of social media. It's another version of the preferred-customer card. "This is the newest thing tied to new technology, " he declared. Steve Rubel, director of tips for Edelman Digital, which concentrates on public relations, social media and digital communications, recounted businesses are beginning to experiment regarding how to use location-based services.