Yesterday, I talked about why I had decided not to jump on the Foursquare bandwagon. The reaction was mixed – some people completely agreed with the fact Foursquare has no appeal, while other said that I was off the mark because Foursquare is all about putting the “geo” in social networking.
Both sides make valid arguments but, for me, it comes down the fact I’m not interested and/or ready for the “geo” side of the house. The way I operate personally and professionally doesn’t lend itself to broadcasting to friends and family where I’m located. Anyone who has to know where I’m at likely has a pretty good idea of my location.
As well, I enjoy the relative anonymity of being “location-less” given it strikes me as the last privacy bastion amid a world where everything is public unless otherwise defined as private.
That said, I can also appreciate why Foursquare appeals to many people. If you’re out and about on a regular basis, and you want to connect with friends and family who are also out and about, then it makes sense to use Foursquare – much like many people use Facebook to provide regular updates on what they’re doing or where they’re going.
In many ways, Foursquare is a lifestyle service as much as it is a technology. For my needs, however, Foursquare is a square peg in a round hole.
Hey there – appreciate your sharing your thoughts on foursquare. While we're very much focused on the "share your location with friends" side of things right now, I think another sweet spot for us is in helping people track the places they visit in hopes of being able to recommend new places to discover and new experiences to be had.
We still got a lot of work to do, but our hope is someday we'll get to the point where even people who don't want to share their location with others will find value in foursquare checkins.
-d
co-founder, foursquare
I definitely see the value of being able to access the recommendations of friends and family, particularly from a mobile device. So, I think that's definitely a service that could win over people such as myself. Thanks for the comment, and continued success.
Mark
The thing is Foursquare doesn't even do what you describe above very well at all. Ah, I see the founder responding here. That is more what it is about I guess but even then I haven't found it useful at all. There are a number of problems that I won't go into.