The company has added the ability to "level up" on the badges you've earned, which means more brands will have more opportunities to give their faithful fans more rewards -- and users will have more incentive to keep checking in.
Unlike Foursquare checkins -- which reward either the "mayor" of a location or all users who check in at that spot -- Brightkite checkins and badge levels will generate more data on customers' level of engagement with a brand and allow them to be appropriately compensated. This system distinguishes a "superfan" from a "regular" from a casual visitor -- a level of nuance that's becoming increasingly important in these latter days of social media metrics and measurement.
"The biggest reason to introduce levels to our badges was so stores, bars, restaurants and brands have a way to reward you, their customers," reads the Brightkite blog. "We think a business should reward all their loyal customers, not just one person."
Currently, Brightkite is partnering with Starbucks, the CW, Visa, Sharpie, Redbook, McDonald's and several other brands.
For end users, Brightkite is taking a lot of the mystery out of "leveling up" by showing a progress bar under your badge and telling them exactly what they need to do to proceed:
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