Comments on: Foursquare, the next big social media thing?

By: Rae Macker

Rae Macker — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:04:29 +0000

In his article “Engage Gen Y Online with Social Interactivity,” Bruce Temkin lays out principles of design for attracting Generation Y to a website. One of his recommendations is to incorporate elements of game design – challenges, rewards, competition, etc. Foursquare definitely has that going on, so it could take off with younger generations who are digital natives that grew up with video games, Facebook, etc.

I’m in the camp that it won’t really take off, though. As others have said, it doesn’t seem to do anything that Facebook/Twitter/etc. already do, and on top of that, there are concerns about privacy and safety. Personally, I’m heavily into social media applications, but not to the extent that I feel the need for everyone to know where I am at all times. There’s too much potential for disaster there.

By: Nicole Maroutsos

Nicole Maroutsos — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:07:37 +0000

I certainly think there is an audience for an application like this, however I have a hard time believing it will really go mainstream. I don’t think it’s a question of whether people are ready for “the next big thing” as much as it’s a privacy issue. I can see Four Square blowing up with the digital natives who are comfortable with the idea of putting themselves out there; however I can’t see it growing among older generations. When I think of all the people I know who aren’t on Facebook yet, it’s because they feel uncomfortable about the lack of privacy. Four Square takes it to a whole new level. I don’t care for everyone to know where I am…and I certainly don’t care where everyone else is. I have a few friends with the Loopt app on Facebook and I think nothing is more annoying than the constant geo updates…

By: Eric Burgess

Eric Burgess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:45:53 +0000

I just came back to peep the more recent comments on this post. @Danielle Gatsos – I’m blown away at your articulation and interpretation. You took the words right out of my mouth particularly with this part:

“What happened to the times when we went out and actually enjoyed ourselves without keeping in mind whether or not that event would be online within the next few days?”

Why do so many of us feel we need to announce and proclaim our every move in the real world, online? Are we by nature self absorbed? Addicted to technology? Or, do we simply view the internet as a storytelling gateway for our lives?

By the way, here’s the link to the article I mentioned in my previous comment: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/28/facebook-foursquare/

By: James Taylor

James Taylor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:38:46 +0000

I was fully prepared to write that I did not believe foursquare would be the next big thing. Plainly, because facebook already has everything in place to give what foursquare can and the existing audience participation to make it a reality. However, Madeline’s point about twitter made me think. I thought twitter was pointless up until recently. I felt it was basically the facebook newsfeed. It’s not. The principles of the the facebook newsfeed and twitter posts are almost identical, but the appication and audience is different. Twitter is a place to find out about things from trusted sources/experts you don’t know, facebook is the place to find out about what your stupid friends had for lunch. Luckily for foursquare, it’s not just a place to see where your stupid friends are eating luch RIGHT NOW, it’s a place to track geographically what’s going on around you. In my opinion foursquare must be careful not to too broadly pitch itself as the “see where your friends are right now!” app, it must focus on the geography of desire. What do you want, and how can you find it near you right now.

By: Madeline Moy

Madeline Moy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:37:12 +0000

I recently finished reading Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, and he describes the social networking service, dodgeball, to illustrate the power of Small World networks. Shirky says, “…tools that rely on friend-of-a-friend networking work better when they augment human social choices rather than trying to replace them.” I think this partly explains the explosion in social media. Using social tools gives us more choice.

What’s dodgeball got to do with Foursquare? One of the founders of dodgeball is also behind Foursquare.

I’ve heard a lot of rumblings about Foursquare, but I never was that interested in checking it out until I read a Mashable article about the service by Jennifer Van Grove. I find the tips and to-dos feature most interesting. Van Grove writes, “As a user, you can add tips to locales to tell your friends and the general public about the key things they need to know about a venue. Say for example the local pizza place has a discount every Tuesday night, you’d add that info into Foursquare, and then anyone nearby can see the tip and save it as a to-do to their personal check list.”

I am that friend of yours who loves to give tips and advice on everything from what bar has the best happy hour to where to find the best price on a yoga mat. Foursquare was made for me! And I know I’m not alone.

I used to think Twitter was dumb, and then three months ago, I started using it and now I think it’s one of the most useful social networking tools out there. As Mashable’s Van Grove says, “Foursquare is like Twitter before it was Twitter.”

By: *cat

*cat — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:34:22 +0000

I don’t think Foursquare is going to take off as CNN predicts. I think with the press coverage it’s getting now, it will garner new eyeballs and create short-term (or one-time) action for those that want to “see what all the fuss is about” but won’t be able to sustain the interest of the masses for too long. Referring back to some comments from from Hanson’s post –http://flipthemedia.com/index.php/2009/11/an-ode-to-contemplation/ — being “off the grid” and detaching from the online world is luxury that some are embracing — a mentality that is the polar opposite of what Foursquare is looking to market. But this is just my own personal opinion.

By: MFranco

MFranco — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:17:32 +0000

I actually do not view Foursquare so much as an application but more as a sub-culture. It has made a lot of noise as of late, but I do not think it will continue to be the next biggest social application if they just keep things as they are. I do think it is around to stay and it will continue to have a passionate following. I just do not think it is the ‘next big social media thing.’ It is in its boom phase now and will continue with its loyal following just as so many apps have before it.

Part of me hopes that I am wrong, because Foursquare actually encourages ‘offline’ social lives. That is kind of nice to hear since I have been afraid of our culture being too ‘wired’ or approaching the ‘always online’ status.

By: Katherine Turner

Katherine Turner — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:14:27 +0000

Danielle brings an interesting and valid point to the discussion- is this safe? Safety is the main concern of most parents and teachers of digital natives. If anyone thought that disclosing a home address on Facebook was pushing the limits this is too much, particularly for youth. Foursquare enables anyone to follow you and constantly keep track of your whereabouts. It seems like an invitation for online harassment to turn into physical harm.

The incentives are nice: get a free beer for being the “Mayor.” But as our online and offline selves are becoming increasingly blurred, do our offline actions become consequences of what will improve our online status?

That being said, whether it’s foursquare or not, there will always be the “next best thing” in social media. People are ready and undoubtedly willing to let online applications permeate their “offline” lives.