I was visiting friends in D.C. last weekend, and when the 100+ degree heat drove us into the Union Street Pub in Alexandria, we started talking about Foursquare over oysters, as professional internet dorks love to do with their Sundays.
Foursquare’s naysayers are often people who have been turned off by obnoxious Facebook/Twitter friends publishing every inane check-in to every possible platform, or people who lose sleep at night worrying about online privacy.
A few words on these two groups before we get started. Let’s call them “Pushers” and “Paranoids.”
- Pushers: For god’s sake, dial back Foursquare’s Facebook and Twitter notifications. Set it so it only publishes to Facebook when you become a mayor. That’s valuable to your network, because it’s sharing a place you love, frequent and recommend. It’s good for the business you’re supporting, and it’s good for your friends.
- Paranoids: You’re not that special. You live in a fantasy world of self-importance, believing your check-ins, vacation photos and observations are gold nuggets spread across the barren hills of the internet. Few people and even fewer organizations care where you are or what you’re doing — and the ones who do probably aren’t the ones who’ll rob or exploit you in a meaningful way.
So why use Foursquare now that we’ve taken all the fun out of it?
Here’s a few uses you might not have considered:
Foursquare-as-automatic time capsule
- Imagine how neat it would be to look back and know where your parents were on this day in 1969. Seeing their check-ins at the Zeppelin concert at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, where they both were, but hadn’t met each other yet. That is pretty damn cool. With each check-in, we’re creating this for our kids, should we successfully instill in them the same sense of history, family pride and addiction to too much information.
Foursquare-as-journal for lazy people
- Who has time to update a journal every day? Between physical locations on Foursquare and personal observations on Twitter, you get a good sense of what was happening that day, and what was going through your head. Your complete Foursquare “History” and Tweet archive, backed up with a free service like Tweet Scan, gives you all of this. It’s only a matter of time before a well-meaning internet entrepreneur with a big heart and empty pockets launches a free service that helpfully aggregates them both into a day-by-day PDF (then promptly goes out of business for building a free service based on free services).
Foursquare-as-reminder for forgetful people
- My memory is notoriously bad. But one look at my History instantly answers the question, “What was the name of that place that served fresh lobster right on the dock?” or “Where did I see that girl dressed up like an animatronic Chuck E. Cheese?” One click and you’ve got it pinpointed for future visits and friendly recommendations.
Foursquare-as-alibi establisher?
- At the risk of sounding like a Paranoid, this thought crossed my mind the other day: “If I was ever falsely accused of some terrible crime, would my consistent Foursquare usage be admissible in court?” (I couldn’t have been in the study whacking Colonel Mustard in the head with the candlestick holder, when Foursquare shows I was clearly across town at the silver Monopoly roadster dealership getting an oil change.) Probably not, but it’s worth a shot.
Hopefully this changes how you think about Foursquare. If you’re stubbornly opposed, you might also have a competitive nature, and Foursquare is great for that.
The Sound Museum is mine, Magen, and your days are numbered.
What a great explanation! I literally just signed up for foursquare this weekend, after hearing my friends talk about it enough.. still didn’t see the whole point of it but you did a great job pointing out the benefits – thanks!!
xx