Tech Blog

[#1]

Just two weeks ago I was hailing Foursquare as a tool greater than Google.  Today, I deleted it from the influential front page of apps on my iPhone.

While I still maintain that Foursquare is a great tourist application to get location based advice and insight, the local angle of Foursquare becomes boring very quickly.

Maybe it's just my age.  I'm nearly 40 with 1 toddler and a second baby on the way.  My daily routine includes drives to daycare, the park, the library an office, or a restaurant to lunch with a friend.  Evenings are spent at home.  My schedule stays pretty much the same all the time.  If there is socializing, it's done at a friend's house with their kids or it's a quiet date night with my wife.

For those who are single, living downtown and constantly chasing down the latest skirt to the hottest boite, the app could come in handy.  Walk in to the heart of the entertainment district and scan what all the people are saying about each joint and pick your appropriate poison for the evening and easily track your friends from place to place.

For me, being the Mayor of the playground at the end of my street doesnt bring any value.  For a young social star, being the Mayor of the hottest spot in town might bring some spoils.

To really be engaged on Foursquare, as with Twitter, you need to have a large community base to interact with.  While Twitter lets you track followers through third party apps, Foursquare asks for your phone number to share with all your contacts.  I have many digital 'friends' I don't mind sharing a Twitter handle with, very few of them I actually know well enough to publicize my phone number.  My 'real' friends aren't into digital games, it's enough for them to update a Facebook status once a week - so the social aspect of Foursquare is lost on my group.

I don't want to play 'games,' I live the same scheule pretty much every single day, my social life is with my wife so Foursquare in Vancouver is boring.

However, if I go to New York, or Los Angeles, I will, just like when I was in San Francisco 2 weeks ago, bring the Foursquare app from the junk draw of iPhone app pages and back to the title position on the front page to tap in to the local mind and get great tips on how to experience the city. 

Foursquare more than proves its value as a geo-based human search engine, it's just not a really fun game to play at home.

catch the buzz ... pass it on.

[#2]

Yeah, I agree. I check in once and a while, but I just don't see the utility of it anymore. Yeah I'd like to know where my friends like to eat when I'm stuck for a place to try, but like you (and closer to 40 methinks) I just don't have a lot to add to it.

I'm not going to ditch my account by any means, but I'm not going to worry about it as much. If I worry at all. 

[#3]

I definitely agree with a lot of your points, and as someone that's essentially single, and living downtown, but not necessarily chasing skirt or the next hottest boite, I can see how those points definitely makes me part of the target demographic.

That being said, being the mayor of your playground could bring you a new badge (you just need to tag it 'playground' and visit 10x), and you could base your gaming more on the acquisition of badges, instead of the leader board. Kind of your own personal city scavenger hunt.

While foursquare may ask for your phone number, it's definitely not required that you share it with friends. I just happen to do it for ease of use, and so that my friends can just text me w/o having to leave the app. You can opt to just share your twitter handle, or your facebook page, if you prefer.

You make a good point that foursquare is an excellent user-generated content based tourist app. Between that, and Google Maps, I've never felt so at home in unfamiliar cities, and it's all in the palm f my hand.

Side note: Just took note of the date stamp of the post, my comments aren't exactly timely, but I wanted to add my two cents.