When I got my Android based cell phone I was excited about being able to send emails from my Google account, send and receive Tweets, and check in on my friends on Facebook. I quickly started adding Apps to the phone. Before I knew it, I had installed an app called FourSquare.
The front page of FourSquare describes it as:
Foursquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things.
It is considered a social networking site (much like twitter and facebook). Wikipedia describes it as follows:
Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at venues. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook or both.
The best way I can describe it: A social networking site that combines using GPS technology to check into locations, usually businesses, to gain points, badges and mayor-ships. You can choose to let your friends see where you have been. You can leave tips about locations and meet people who are “mayors” of the location.
From what I can tell a mayor is someone who has checked into a location more than anyone else.
Some comments about my first couple months of participating in FourSquare
- First and most importantly it seems a little stalker-ish. When you check into a location your friends are alerted to where you are. Hopefully none of your friends are secretly infatuated with you. It’s a lot easier than finding out your crush’s schedule in high school so you can accidentally “bump” into them.
- It seems geared towards frequenting businesses. So if you don’t eat out or shop often, you don’t check in often.
- I would love if it was more of a scavenger hunt kind of game. Instead of focusing on repeat visits to the same location,I would like if it focused on visiting unusual locations around us. Examples, statues, historical locations, and other points of interest.
Have you tried FourSquare? If yes, what is your opinion? If no, would you try it?
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