See ya Foursquare – I’m checking out
Although I didn’t realise it at the time, looking back I know the moment when I fell out of love with Foursquare.
It was when I was working alone in my office at an odd hour and got an email to tell me I’d lost the office mayorship because a complete stranger had just checked in.
For those unfamiliar with Foursquare, you check in when you’re present at a particular venue. Whoever checks in the most in any given month wins the mayorship.
Of course, there wasn’t a psycho in the building – just someone who was either a) a Foursquare cheat, checking in at random locations or b) somewhat misunderstood the geo-location aspect of Foursquare and was checking in every time he read Mumbrella.
My first instinct was to call Foursquare Cops on the guy.
But being a competitive type, I started to redouble my efforts to check in until I retook the mayorship. After all, if I wasn’t even mayor of my own office what sort of a social media savvy journo could I possibly be?
This stranger, however, wasn’t giving up. We got into a check-in duel. The mayorship passed back and forth between us.
Initially, I was crosser about this than seems reasonable.
Another signal that Foursquare wasn’t working for me came when I checked in at my local cafe. I found myself reading the tips – one caught my eye because of they had very similar taste to me. Welsh rarebit for breakfast and the amazing Sunday roast were the recommendations.
I agreed wholeheartedly. But when I checked the recommendation I discovered that I was the author. It began to occur to me that Foursquare was even more of an echo chamber than most social media fora.
And yet, I pushed on. Geo-social feels important. I even enthused about Foursquare on Sunrise. Watching the clip again, Kochie comes across as a kindly uncle politely listening to something childish.
(On the basis of about three check-ins over a couple of weeks I was mayor of the Seven Network for a stupidly long period, by the way.)
But in the end, what’s done for me is the monotony of Foursquare. The last time I even got vaguely interested was when I was at the second Digital Citizens swarm in Sydney. Gradually though the badges – which you get for doing a new thing – dry up.
Like me, my Foursquare friends tend to check in to the same places day after day. So there’s generally nothing to see there. And if they were somewhere interesting it usually happened hours before I looked sothey would no longer be there.
And when you follow roughly the same routine you stop getting points and badges.
It’s not really a game for those who have any sort of a normal life.
So I’m deleting the Foursquare app and returning to Twitter, which is my social media echo chamber of choice.
Foursquare, I’m checking out. And William R – whoever you are – the mayorship of Mumbrella is all yours.
Tim Burrowes
- You can fellow Tim Burrowes on Twitter @Mumbrella instead or even on the Mumbrella Facebook page
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Well said, Tim. I can see how it has potential and various international case studies have shown this, but for now, there’s more that irks me about it than invites me to actively use it.
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I have to agree.
Thankfully, no-one else is Mayor of my home – However, the office became a silly game to try and out-do someone who frankly went in and out of the office more than I did so was no competition. And besides, the office isn’t what it’s about.
Foursquare needs leadership from the business side as much as it does the consumer. You need the incentive to return to a place to strive for something. OR, to have them reward you randomly for your patronage.
Geo isn’t dead Tim, stay true, however, your falling out of love with Foursquare is not uncommon I would guess.
We should wait for the more intuitive Geo stuff, which isn’t based on checkins, but actions. When you book a flight with a particular airline, or book online at certain hotels, your ‘networks’ should automatically receive these options as a higher ranked result for them, just because you stayed there – after all the referral and word of mouth is still the most powerful recommendation.
Foursquare isn’t the answer. But the answer will come…
Until then – we wait.
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I have found value in fourquare although yes, it does have its flaws as a ‘game’ app. As someone who has moved to a new city it’s been great for finding out about new vanues and hot spots (and not spots) and keeping track of where I’ve been so I can find them again. The tips are useful if you’ve never been to a place before and I’ve seen value in using it in conjunction with events to keep track of attendance and to help create a certain social media buzz. Agree that the badges are a non-event and mayorship has lost its lustre…until perhaps some of the venues jump on board and give some value to the mayor and unlocking of badges.
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Agreed Tim, what is even worse is when you are trying to check in when you are at your local coffee shop and 4SQ actually tells you you aren’t actually there + the app seems to be taking longer and longer to check in every time I use it. Like most fun and addictive games it has a limited lifespan. Unless 4SQ can evolve into something really useful rather than just a reinforcement of how dull my daily life is than I am out as well.
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Tim, great post….. I went through the same thing, and then a new layer kept me engaged which I wrote about in my blog. http://daemongroupblog.com/dig.....ll-circle/
That said, it requires participation by the whole community, and with the ebb and flow of engagement with Foursquare, it is hard to see it getting full traction.
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Hi Tim,
Well said, and I hope you can chase that up with the FourSquare guys as well. There’s alot od media hype about it, as you know – but seems like its like another application/programme that lures people into another way to promote businesses.
So, on the positive note, its great people are fighting over the Majorship for Mumbrella – let William R be, and give the others the chance to promote you as well.
The whole geographic aspect is totally wrong, as anyone can sign in (within a reasonable distance) so some people must really have alot of time to check in 100 times and miss the whole point of what it should be used for.
All in all – its great mumBrella are on FourSquare and better if people are fighting over getting the majorship.
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I like it for finding new and interesting places in Sydney and Melbourne. The competitive aspect is annoying, and the gaming of the system is a pain, but I get value from the recommendations people make.
The points and badges don’t really make any sense to me, but I still use it and enjoy it.
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While I can understand your frustration Tim, the potential for businesses when used well is significant.
I’m bummed they don’t do better with it but they just need some guidance and imagination here in Oz.
A freshen up of the badges is a great idea.
Have you read this by @faris?
http://tinyurl.com/nduy56
Wanna hear your voice echo? Take another look at Formspring.me
Off to the water cooler… its been real.
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Always filed it as “noise”
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A fair argument. I can understand your frustration from a point/mayorships point of view. When I was kicked-out of a Foursquare mayorship, I didn’t bi*ch about it, I started a conversation with them. As a result I made new friend with a local aquaintance who shared at least on interest.
Foursquare is due for a refresh. It format doesn’t align with it’s new found popularity. It turf is als being quickly vaded by the big boys of the net, with Facebook and Google rapdily developing their own Geo-location tools.
Foursquare need to now become the new Twitter or the new Joost.
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Was Forsquare invented by burglars so they’d know when everyone was out?
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My friend @jacksonbeale is Mayor of Planet Earth! An easy check in for most of us! I think maturity will arrive to these platforms over time…perhaps followed by humans.
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Great article Tim, I’ve never been one for p***ing competitions in any medium and glad you now feel the same way.
Twitter has an immediate benefit, this Foursquare thing is simply a bragging contest for people who have smart phones and too much time on their hands.
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Tim,
I’m inclined to agree with you as I wrote in my own blog post some time back.
http://daemongroupblog.com/dig.....ll-circle/
The layer that got me engaged was the peer to peer tips and info, and the contribution from many of the people I followed was outstanding. Chances are this contribution hasnt been recriprocated, and there interest is also dying.
Will be interested to seen if it grows or goes!!
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I had a very similar experience of a Mayorship being stolen from me, via an obvious Foursquare cheat.
I even drew this comic about it – http://www.agent-x.com.au/comic/ousted-as-mayor/
Also, nothing annoys me more on Foursquare than the idiots that put their home address in it
You are basically telling thieves where you live & when you are not home.
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“We’re also in an arcapella group; it’s called copapella”. Missed everything after that!
Speaking from a marketing and engagement perspective, Foursquare looked a pretty good concept to me initially. Sharing geo-loc where there’s something to see sounds a pretty good app and I can still see application.
Unfortunately the background noise is way too high so in my opinion, the value is diminished to a point where there is none.
Suppose I’ll wait and see what comes next (or invent it, because someone’s gotta).
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Agreed. But mainly because as a game, its pretty dull. Thats why I was interested in what Causeworld was doing in the US, because garnering points meant something beyond the game itself: http://tcrn.ch/cNZkox
Gotto say though, I was quite impressed how many Mayors turned up for that Martin Place Microsoft Office Mayors event (no plug -I’ve no affiliation). I lined up for a good 10 mins to get my free stuff, so they clearly got a fair volume pretty qualified audience of potentially chatty influencer types. Be keen to know if they hit their objectives using Foursquare.
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Yeah the more I keep checking in the more I feel like some oversharing teenager. I have gotten to the stage of giving up as all my mayorships are to places that have barely heard of Foursquare and therefore don’t reward mayors. I do like to get the inside word on a new place or nearby stuff but overall it needs to evolve.
If it gets to the stage that all the local cafes and bars I am mayor of start rewarding loyalty, I might get more enthused again.
Can’t see brands jumping on board until this happens.
Liked the clip
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A lot of oldsquares have trouble with foursquare.
Trouble for uz iz itz for the kidz an weir too old n not down wiv it.
Xcept @ Time Out – http://foursquare.com/sydneytimeout
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“It’s not really a game for those who have any sort of a normal life.”
Came to exactly the same opinion very early on.
Like you, persevered however can’t honestly say my life was ever improved or more entertaining for the invested time.
Nice post.
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I wouldn’t write off location-based social networks (LBSNs) like Foursquare too quickly.
I have just read Forrester’s latest paper on LBSNs, and I agree with their verdict…potential doesn’t match the hype…..yet!
Based on the research they compiled, it seems there are a lot of things for marketers to still get excited about:
1) an educated, influential male audience
2) a new and unique mobile experience
3) the potential to entice nearby customers to points of sale.
The advice is continue to experiment and there are certainly some clear benefits for gaming, consumer electronics, retail, services and sportswear companies.
Whilst they may not generate a critical mass of volume, you can reach an influential audience and still have a chance of earning early adopter “street cred.”
I myself will continue to check in…..mayor or not.
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Finally!
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Great post. Agree with you about Foursquare in it’s current form provides limited appeal for those who have possibly expended the novelty factor of the game element.
Foursquare’s main problem appears to be that once you’re past the game and badge, there really isn’t a critical mass regularly updating the service with useful information when checking in. Without this additional information, the monotony of checking in as part of your daily routine can turn you off the thing quite quickly.
The three obvious next steps for Foursquare would be:
1) An increase of audience adding rich information into the service, but without some sort of impetus for this to happen, it’s a long shot
2) Integration into another information-rich, regularly updated, application, like Twitter, that would add value to the check-in beyond mayorship and badges, or
3) Wilting like a Second Life or Chatroulette, which provided an interesting service, but was limited once people got past the novelty factor.
Geo-social applications may have value to business (especially small business), but the challenge is how do you bring together information, immediacy, and, as a result, a rich, layered community to ‘stoke the fire’. There is should be something to be had between Foursquare and Google Places, but something needs to change/evolve/be invented to make it happen.
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I have only started to use it overhead last few months and I was instantly hooked. Checking in places getting mayorships, badges and adding friends. One day I arrived at a casual business meeting with a colleague and he shook my hand and then said “hold on, I just have to check into foursquare here..” then we proceeded with our meeting. What would your reaction be? I was shocked and considered this rude. Although it was
An opening conversation point. I
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It’s a good way of keeping track where you’ve been for those of us with poor memory.
Foursquare is definitely polarizing…I thought it was pointless at first buthave come to find it extremely useful in navigating my new city of Stockholm.
But Tim, your experience seems to be defined by someone abusing ‘the system’ and, by my count, not typical of the whole. And as James Hopkins wrote on his blog, when one person in your network or area adds value by leaving tips and comments, the whole foursquare ecosystem benefits and grows as a result.
A few other great things for local businesses though:
– providing offers and drawing in local traffic
– getting SEO value for Google local results
– finding out what consumers think by reading tips
– getting some stats on visitors.
…my two cents
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I will never doubt foursquare ability to locate the best Thai or coffee by a suburb
and agree with Ben S in that the geo history as a digital diary. Hopefully the 20 million funding recently announced will offer more features and power to users to flag suspect checkins.
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Love foursquare. Don’t care about mayorships, points, etc. Use it for the tips and to keep track of where I’ve been. Check-in cheats are missing the point.
I only use it to check-in to fun things. Using it to check-in to work, the bus stop, etc would make it depressing and boring. No wonder you gave up!
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Like others I like it for the tips and seeing what others have had on the menu. It’s also become a bit of a talking point with fellow locals on twitter who have seen me check in and now we’re all swaping reviews of various places in the area which I love.
it’s a bit of fun I don’t take it too seriously
I have been trying to get in touch with foursquare about doing badges for Spring Racing Carnival but to no success as yet….
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It’s a fad.
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I tried playing around with Foursquare, just to see what the fuss was all about. I find my location checkins generally motivate some discussion from my Twitter followers – as recently as last night, I had four tweets after checking into a certain pub – everything from “good pub” to “did your drink get spiked?”
The iPhone app I find terribly buggy and the geo-locate device is generally quite a distance from where you are checking in.
It is still yet to be fully integrated into business’ marketing but the opportunities for businesses (particularly small local stores or cafes) are quite strong.
Well done William R!
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Yep agree as well its just noise.. have been trailing it for the last month. Finally its time for me to let go. I find it all a little bit boring just talking to myself and collecting badges for what!.. bye bye foursquare.
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I found foursquare to be great on a recent trip for local tips. The exact behaviour Tim engaged in (constantly checking into his office just to be the mayor) is what annoys me. I have a friend who checks-in to two places on Foursquare, his local train station and his office with equally inane comnments like ‘Waiting for a Train’. Really, what is that contributing to the Foursquare community? Perhaps something about which train usually has the most seats available would be more useful.
Foursquare has potential if people actually contribute to the ‘conversation’ about a check-in venue rather than simply ‘being there’. Until people understand that and stop simply trying to be a ‘mayor’ it is going to be just noise.
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With only about four million users globally Foursquare might be an interesting app for people who can’t enter a building without madly pressing buttons on their smartphones but as a social network marketing tool it’s a flop. The pool of users is too small in any one geographical area so it’s pretty pointless for local SNM. There’s a different Social networking site coming online almost weekly and marketers really need to focus on where they are going to devote their attention and do the job well in select areas than trying to be everywhere.
It’s a bit like reality TV programs. There’s hundreds, but not everyone wants to broadcast their location 24/7 and if people are so busy telling everyone where they are then they haven’t got time to digest the message being put in front of them so that equates to wasted spend.
Personally I don’t want people to know where I’m at 24/7. It’s just one step away from big brother. People have fought against this type of monitoring by governments for decades and yet there is a growing trend for people to want to voluntarily tell anyone who’s watching where they are and what they are doing. Very Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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