Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

Vancouver tech nerds and cell phone junkies are pretty excited about the launch of Foursquare here in Vancouver on Wednesday, September 9th. The location-based social networking tool has been burning up on the blogs and twitter feeds since its introduction to the tech community at last years SXSW. Since then, the folks at Foursquare have been adding cities to their fold and we’re happy to see Vancouver included in the elite list of available locations as it legitimizes our fair land as a major center of internet activity and innovation.

Ok, great, but what is it? Well, without going into too much detail, it’s a location based social networking application that is available to users via the web and mobile phones. Of course the iPhone and its inherent GPS technology is the backbone of its functionality but it’s not exclusive to that device and Foursquare offers ways for everyone to get involved by either text messaging, using a mobile web browser, or installing one of their specially designed mobile apps.

The crux of Foursquare is the “Check In.” By using the location technology available to most cell phone users, Foursquare members are able to let followers and friends know where they are (or where they’ve been) by Checking In at locations throughout the city. So it’s like a Twitter feed except rather than just the usual post of something like “This coffee tastes really great,” Foursquare allows its users to broadcast a location based post more along the lines of “I’m at Lorum Cafe and the Coffee tastes great!” Lorum Cafe would then be added to my feed history along with all the other places I’ve been. Likewise, the rest of the Foursquare community could visit the Foursquare page dedicated to Lorum Cafe and see all the users that have checked in there. The Foursquare user that has checked in the most, becomes Mayor of Lorum Cafe.

This is how Foursquare sets itself apart from other location sharing applications like Brightkite, by adding the element of game play to location sharing. Users can rack up points in a variety of ways, and while there are no obvious benefits laid out yet by the developers of Foursquare for amassing points other than being at the top of a list, it’s pretty obvious there are big plans in the works to integrate rewards other than just being Mayor into the game. Users gain points by being Mayor, checking into a variety of locations in one night, checking into locations that are really far apart, and also just checking in anywhere. Users can acquire trophies to display in their profiles as well. The website also allows users to set goals or “To do’s” allowing, for example, users to build a list of all the restaurants they’ve been meaning to check out, so as you check in you can scratch one of the list. There’s also a “Total Nights Out” tracker too. So if you’re the type that likes to brag about how much of a night owl you are, you’ll get a trophy for being king of the night time world or something. (This doesn’t interest me at all, I swear!)

Location sharing platforms are nothing new, but the technology is in its infancy, and right now Foursquare users seem to be of the early adopter ilk, so don’t expect pings from your Grandma at Superstore anytime soon. And while the term “location based” sounds pretty cutting edge, I’ve been finding that “location picking” is a bit more of an accurate term for this stuff, and it’s really not all that exciting. So far, my explorations with Brightkite and Foursquare have been a bit disappointing in that rather than the application telling me where I am, I’m the one telling the application of my where whereabouts. Couldn’t I just do that with Twitter? The few locations that I’ve checked in at to test out the app, I wasn’t even actually there. In fact, just this morning, I became Mayor of Waterfront Station here in Vancouver by checking in from my home last night, and once again this morning while I was at work. So that kind of dismantles any sort of competitive nature surrounding the game play nature of Foursquare. Why bother striving to visit locations to check in if you can just do it from your bed, or couch. Lazy Mayor alert! I plan on being mayor of everything by the end of the month. *Yes, I am a total cheater, which is why I am so successful. Get over it!

Still, jokes aside, this kind of social media is still developing and a lot of Vancouver digital mavens are anticipating the launch of Foursqaure and the future of location sharing as a viable mainstream media channel. That includes us here at Engine Digital. We’ll be keeping an eye on Foursquare as a possible real world tie-in to the social media extensions of the digital campaigns we develop here. There are lots of possibilities. Think about the competitive nature of Mayorship that would arise out of a free dinner at a coveted restaurant. Or the bragging rights centered around Mayorship at a place that has some street-cred cool factor (yes, I just said that, get over that too!) Here’s hoping they get the kinks worked out. For now though, it’s still all a bit rudimentary. There are plenty of bugs with Foursquare, and the site seems underdeveloped and in need of a designer, but that’s kind of why we like it. It’s three guys focused in Manhattan just trying to build a cool web-app and make the digital stratosphere a bit more fun and interesting. They recently just secured 1.35 Million in funding too, so cheers to them.

Enough negative talk though, it’s time for a party! Let the game begin! See you tomorrow night (September 9th, 2009) at “V” in Yaletown. I’ll be checking in for sure. Whether I’m actually there or not remains to be seen, but you get a free drink when you do, so safe bets are that I will be. Come say hi.

FURTHER:

Party details.

Foursquare outlined in more detail.

My Foursquare profile.

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