Foursquare and three years ago…
Foursquare and three years ago...Audio Version
a social networking site was created by Dennis Crowley & Naveen Selvadurai, on Dennis’ kitchen table no less.
foursquare [fohr skwair] , noun, a location-based social networking website for mobile devices, such as smartphones.
Used in a sentence: “That was my most amazing foursquare check-in ever, I can’t believe I unlocked the Penn Station swarm!” or “Are you going to check in on foursquare and unlock that coupon for 20% off?”
So, what is foursquare and should you be worried about using it daily?
I’ve had discussions with friends and family about using this fun and innovative social networking app. Foursquare is a Geo-location based game that encourages users to check-in [noun] or check in [verb] but never checkin [grammatically wrong in every way], to the various businesses and sites in the world they visit daily. No big deal right? Well maybe yes, maybe no.
You see, like any good social networking platform, the emphasis is always on the social. Which means, you’re encouraged to invite friends, make friends, friend friends…you know the drill. But the difference with foursquare (which is stylized to always be spelled in lowercase, which I feel obligated to point out lest I offend any spelling champions or grammar Nazis) is the location-based aspect of the network.
Anyone using foursquare can see where anyone else using the site has checked-in thus knowing exactly where that person is at that time.
Did you catch that? People, maybe even total strangers, know where you are…anytime…anywhere… [cue spooky Jaws music].
While guys probably don’t give this a second thought, women certainly do. I’ve had conversations with friends who don’t want to use social networks like foursquare because of the lack of privacy. And not only the perceived lack of privacy, but the perceived danger of letting strangers know where you are.
The last time I had this conversation as I was excitedly checking in to a local diner I’d never eaten at before which meant I could rack up the points for a ‘first check-in’ and a ‘first of your friends to check in’ which is always a bonus, when she asked me whether or not I worried about people knowing where I was. Or even worse, about strangers knowing where I was…
I pointed out the diner full of strangers and told her, “These strangers all know where I am.”
You see, it’s a game and the pseudo friends that I make on foursquare live all over the world not just in my hometown. My favorite location to friend [verb] people on foursquare is at airports and train stations. You can find people from places you’ve never been and probably never will be on the globe, that exist in the same space as you for that moment in time. I get a kick out of connecting with them in the game.
Am I worried about any of those strangers knowing where I am? Absolutely…
NOT!
They are no more interested in me than I am truly interested in them on a personal level. And for some of my real friends or family who also play foursquare, I like knowing they’re on the way to the event or already there. I like knowing my son and his friends are checked in at the dorm.
But weirdly, most important to me, is establishing a public timeline.
Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of Law & Order where the detectives are scrambling around to put a timeline together for the poor victim in order to bring a criminal to justice. I see location based social networking platforms as a huge relief to my family who sometimes find themselves wondering, where in the world is Kalynn? They can easily find out from foursquare. It establishes a public timeline of where I’ve been in case, God forbid, I need to be found.
The truth of the matter is that I’m surrounded by strangers on a daily basis because I live in a very, very populated area of the world. A quarter of a million people flood into my hometown every weekday to work. If I’m going into New York City we’re talking several million souls trapped on an island that’s 13 miles long and 4 hours wide. That’s a lot of peeps. It’s easy to get lost amongst all those strangers.
And being the marketing ninja that I am, I can’t leave out all the local business marketing opportunities that foursquare provides, but we’ll leave that for another post.
foursquare by the numbers (last updated April, 2012) [directly from the foursquare.com website]
- Community: Over 20 million people worldwide
- Over 2 billion check-ins, with millions more every day
- Businesses: Over 750,000 using the Merchant Platform
It’s a game, it’s fun and I’m making myself visible throughout my day by participating in the foursquare world. That’s not scary, nor is it a lack of privacy. I’m making the argument that it’s actually smart to let people know where you are. If we find ourselves in a Swarm together, friend me on foursquare and I’ll give you a w00t!