I used foursquare for about 3 weeks. I comment on HN because I want people to start recognizing my name. I post to twitter because I want a large follower base I can bounce ideas off and tell about things I'm working on. I answer questions on quora because there are a lot of wealthy, influential people on there and I want them to know I'm a developer trying to make his way in this world. The point is, I need to get something back from these services if I'm going to dedicate my time using them.
Foursquare gave me nothing in return. There's no value in being a mayor, and because theres only one mayor per location it's nearly impossible to maintain. None of my friends in town use it, so the potential value of finding out where my friends are and what they are up to at any moment is nonexistent.
I would use Foursquare if it would tell me if my buddy is going to the gym without him having to do anything. I would use it if it would actually keep track of the number of times I've bought a coffee at my favorite coffee shop so I don't have to keep messing around with those stupid punch cars that I lose every other week.
The first location based service that solves either or both of those problems will be the first one I use consistently.
personally, i find foursquare, gowalla, and the like criminally useless.
the aggregation of all this location data and the sum result of either sharing your location with your friends or seeing an absolutely barebones of the establishments around you, without any context, doesn't result in a useful experience for me, at all.
I think you're on to something here, I know there are a lot of utilities to consolidate loyalty cards, but tying together loyalty cards with social could be huge.
Stamps and cards for the old fogeys, QR codes for technophiles. When you redeem your free coffee it posts to facebook/twitter, etc. More advertising for the business, less cards for the consumer, and invaluable insight into consumer purchasing.
Facebook places does this through their deals system, but you still have to manually check in. The only location service I know of that is always on is google latitude, but it's accuracy isn't always perfect.
"Oh, did you really just eat lunch at Subway? Why the hell do you think anybody cares to know that?"
Thats not an uncommon opinion of facebook or twitter.
Coming from a facebook fan site, the vitriol throughout the article seems misplaced, and the facebook exceptions at the end ("Granted, Facebook was built so we can see how boring everybody else’s lives were, _but_") just seem like apologia.
I don't use foursquare, and don't see the point, but that hasn't stopped anyone from using it, and if he doesn't like it, he should do the same.
Also, his conclusion seems to completely contradict the rest of his rant: if no one is using foursquare, then why is he so annoyed that all of his friends bombard him with status updates?
If nobody is using it, why even bother writing the article, let alone be so mad?
I'm impressed by the number of commenters on the article defending 4sq. A friend of mine regularly meets up with people when they are nearby on foursquare. I don't really hang out with internets people so don't receive that benefit.
When I did use it, I found checking in a little antisocial and obnoxious.
Who uses foursquare?
People who want to be perceived by others as the things that they do (Gym, Tanning, Laundry), the places they go (Fancy Club, Expensive Restaurant, Coffee Shops), and the people with whom they associate (@Famous_Guy28).
I think it also depends a lot on where you are. Being a NYC based company (and that NYC is a high population density city) I've found it useful here (both with people I actually know on it as well as a quick way to look up tips about places nearby). That being said, when I've been in other cities that aren't NYC/SF the value drops quite a bit (I don't have friends in those cities that use it and the number/quality of tips on places isn't the same). The anti-social aspect is probably the biggest issue for really using it when you're out.
I think the author is kind of missing the point, having not used Foursquare himself. I think you could remove the "broadcast my position to friends" feature and it would still be useful/fun. It's still cool to become the mayor of the corner coffee shop, or get badges, or see how many other people are checking in at the bars around you.
(Note: I am not a Foursquare user either. Maybe I have no clue.)
Foursquare is the Friendster of location based services. First in the space to take advance of the technology but having trouble moving past the initial novelty. We're still waiting on the Facebook of location based services. (And Facebook isn't it)
I think the idea of keeping a log of places I've been to is fairly interesting -- especially if there's a good aggregation/search functionality to it, so I can see how many times I go to my favorite restaurant, what places I went to on this day last year, etc. But it's a pretty simple thing to build, and I'd prefer to build it on my own (pay with my time) than use foursquare for it (pay with my privacy).
There are a few secondary things that foursquare does that have some potential, though, notably notes from your friends about what to do/eat/see nearby you that appear when you check in somewhere.
This reminds me of how everyone used to criticize Twitter because they thought it was just people tweeting about the mundane details of their lives. We are still very early in the location space and most of the more compelling potential uses have yet to be discovered.
Foursquare gave me nothing in return. There's no value in being a mayor, and because theres only one mayor per location it's nearly impossible to maintain. None of my friends in town use it, so the potential value of finding out where my friends are and what they are up to at any moment is nonexistent.
I would use Foursquare if it would tell me if my buddy is going to the gym without him having to do anything. I would use it if it would actually keep track of the number of times I've bought a coffee at my favorite coffee shop so I don't have to keep messing around with those stupid punch cars that I lose every other week.
The first location based service that solves either or both of those problems will be the first one I use consistently.