Know This Tech Talk

gamification: The process by which services take advantage of the basic human nature to engage in play and do normally boring or uncomfortable tasks like taking surveys, going to websites, and buying products and services.

GPS: Global Positioning System is based on U.S. government satellites that allow a user with a receiver — such as a mobile phone or tablet — to determine precise coordinates for the device’s location on the earth’s surface.

leaderboard: A way to rank people based on certain activities, such as checking in, sharing, or anything that can be counted and compared; it activates competition in some people and so is used in social marketing to create more of whatever is being counted.

unlocking: The process of activating a special or deal. You might need to check in to a business several times to unlock the special, or you might need to do several extra tasks like take a picture and upload it to Twitter to unlock the next level of deals.