Despite being relatively young, Foursquare has quickly surpassed competing location-based networks like Gowalla and Yelp.
Neither one seems content to go down without a fight, however. Yelp especially has tried to evolve, including the introduction of badges and a ruling system similiar to Foursquare mayorships. And yesterday, Yelp announced they are testing a deal-a-day coupon feature similiar to Groupon.
I really like this move, seeing as how Yelp is already well-established as a location-based network. That means that branching out into a deal-a-day service seems like a smart fit, because they can offer more localized deals without running into as many of the logistical problems that a startup company would.
Innovation is key in this type of social media market, and Yelp is the first of the three big location-based networks to adopt this sort of hybrid location/coupon method.
More importantly, this not only provides competition for Groupon, but could do wonders to help it compete with Gowalla and Foursquare for the location-based crown.
