Tom Murphy's FourSquare HomePage. A Mayor of 21 Places and 16 Badges
What is it?
FourSquare is a location based social media service available from a website or via mobile that has become the rage in 21 cities so far. It appeared to me to be strangely similar to a service called Dodgeball, a text based social networking software for mobile that was bought by Google in 2005 and killed in 2009 when it was replaced by Google Latitude. Turns out, Dennis Crowley is the founder of both FourSquare and Dodgeball and fortunately for him, there is huge interest still brewing in location based services. FourSquare’s unique visitors, according to Compete, is taking off like a hockey stick.
How do you use it?
Like most social networks, you will want to connect with your friends. You can do that the usual ways – Inviting your friends or importing via your Facebook, Gmail (interesting that there is no HotMail or AOL importing offered) or friends you follow on Twitter. Once you have a posse, you can then update your locations, letting them know where you are. And they can let you know where they are if you are interested in knowing.
The premise behind FourSquare is its a game similar to loyalty rewards but without the annoying cards. By updating where you are, you can be awarded points but only on weekends and non-business hours. Your Twitter accounts can be synced up and there is also an iPhone application to keep you in the know. Now for the really fun part – Badges can be earned by checking into locations with tags or if you check in frequently. You can even become “Mayor” if you are the one who has checked in the most frequently for a number of day at a particular venue. There is more to learn about the ins and outs of playing with FourSquare on their Help Section.
Do I recommend it?
FourSquare is a tremendous opportunity for local businesses to offer some type of reward for users to “Check In” to their venue and to gain some real traffic in the form of real people. I would not recommend it if you don’t want to share with your friends where you are at all times or be stalked by “friends,” I haven’t quite gotten into the swing of “Checking In” with FourSquare yet either. But, I know once I rack up some badges and become the “Mayor” there is no doubt that I will be letting you know where I am at! Tom Murphy, the Mayor of 21 places and 16 badges, shared his interest in using FourSquare as, “Having recently moved to San Francisco, FourSquare is the easiest, fastest, and best way to learn what’s happening in The City. Not only do I find what my friends think is cool, but I make new friends who like exploring San Francisco as much as I do.”