today i saw a photo of a times square billboard advertising foursquare, and i couldn’t help but laugh at the typical moment where big brands jump on the new technology train. not that it’s a bad idea to give coupons to people that ‘check in’ as being at your store (a bit rude to people without foursquare accounts, maybe — are their paper versions available at checkout?). i’m just fascinated by people’s fascination with this new ‘checking in’ thing.
the technology is cool, and if you’re a big urban adventurer, i could see the novelty in getting points for going to lots of bars and restaurants. in fact, the one time i fully support the use of foursquare is when i go somewhere new and it’s either really great, really bad, or just really novel. i can easily fire a quick link to the name and mapped location and just let everyone know, ‘hey, this place is great, check it out!’, or ‘hey, stay away!’ in a few button presses, where i might forget to tell them in our next conversation, or not feel like writing a full review on my own blog or something (which no one reads anyway). if yelp’s iphone app were better, i’d probably use them instead, because at least they link to real reviews.
otherwise, it seems like a game where you’re rewarded for behaving compulsively, and that’s a game i don’t really want to play. there are probably some great uses for this beyond my current experience — i love the idea of gps scavenger hunts, the nike+ running trackers are genius — but for now it seems like an idea without a benefit. a hat for fruit, if you will. especially with facebook getting into the race, they better hurry up and figure out what exactly they offer the world, or this billboard is going to seem like a hilarious waste of money in a few years when they merge with myspace.