Editor’s Note: Going Local

Retailers are jumping on this trend, giving special discounts, freebies, or other incentives to location-sharing tool users such as foursquare mayors or other folks with a lot of check-ins.

Last month, for example, Starbucks started a nationwide "mayor reward" program with fourquare, which knocks a dollar off the price of a frappucino for the mayors of its locations. The Scholastic Store in New York is also offering visitors 10 percent off any purchase, just for checking in on foursquare while visiting.