My experiments in social networking have taken a dangerous turn into the world of Foursquare. I blame my friend Roman -we were having lunch recently and he announced right before we ordered that he needed to “check in”. I had seen Foursquare posts come up in my Twitter and Facebook streams before, so I knew what it was, but I wasn’t a user.
“I find it kind of creepy,” I said. “Everyone knowing just where you are and all.”
“Funny,” he said, “women tend to feel that way and men love it.”
Roman’s an adventurous guy, so I figured it was worth a try. I signed up for an account and started using it. It’s not really all that complicated. In Foursquare, when you go to a new place, you “sign in”. Sign ins at different places unlock “badges”, which although worthless can be fun. When you sign into a place more than anyone else, you can become a “mayor.” You can add friends from your gmail, Facebook and Twitter, and follow where others are going and what they are doing.
Right away I figured out a few things…
1. No one on Facebook and Twitter gives a damn where I am. In social media, you need to tune your message to the medium…just like people say you shouldn’t update Facebook with your Twitter stream (which I am guilty of) because they are very different audiences looking for very different things. In Foursquare, people are there because they want to tell you where they are, why they are there, see where others are. That’s not the same as the Facebook or Twitter crowd at all.
2. There are friends out there who have very very active social lives. Nuff said. What happens on Foursquare stays there. As a friend said, the purpose of Foursquare is not to show that you are home. Which, apparently, I am. A lot.
3. In regards to #2, I am way more boring that I realized. I’m not the mayor of a cool local bar. I’m the mayor of my son’s preschool, the local gym, the place where my daughter plays indoor soccer, and the library. I’m vying for mayor of Wiley Publishing, but that’s not really something I should be trying to achieve. Foursquare is trying to help you be cool, but it’s really emphasizing how not cool I am.
4. In regards to #3, when I checked in a the gym one morning before a 6am spin class, I got a “out late on a school night” badge. Foursquare thought I was a cool kid who was out late, not a dorky mom who was getting to the gym in time to snag bike #13 before that shrew in the baseball hat does. Silly Foursquare.
So, after all this, is Foursquare for me? Strangely, yes. It’s maddeningly addictive (I was angry when I realized I actually went out of the building for lunch and forgot to check in). It’s voyeuristically fun to see where my friends are. Most of all, I think there are huge business uses for this. Imagine you check into a Borders store and they email you back a coupon good for a purchase in the next few hours. Or if I check in repeatedly at a local Starbucks, they might send me a BOGO latte coupon, knowing that I was a loyal customer. Maybe I can share these promotions with my Foursquare friends. The possibilities are endless, especially when sharp marketing minds start to think about it. Tasti D-Lite is already doing it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more companies jumping on board.
So do feel free to friend me on Foursquare. Just don’t blame me if I’m boring.
