Foursquare: Despite 5 Million Users, It’s Still Dumb

Foursquare is the Friendster of location based services. First in the space to take advance of the technology but having trouble moving past the initial novelty. We're still waiting on the Facebook of location based services. (And Facebook isn't it)

I used foursquare for about 3 weeks. I comment on HN because I want people to start recognizing my name. I post to twitter because I want a large follower base I can bounce ideas off and tell about things I'm working on. I answer questions on quora because there are a lot of wealthy, influential people on there and I want them to know I'm a developer trying to make his way in this world. The point is, I need to get something back from these services if I'm going to dedicate my time using them.

Foursquare gave me nothing in return. There's no value in being a mayor, and because theres only one mayor per location it's nearly impossible to maintain. None of my friends in town use it, so the potential value of finding out where my friends are and what they are up to at any moment is nonexistent.

I would use Foursquare if it would tell me if my buddy is going to the gym without him having to do anything. I would use it if it would actually keep track of the number of times I've bought a coffee at my favorite coffee shop so I don't have to keep messing around with those stupid punch cars that I lose every other week.

The first location based service that solves either or both of those problems will be the first one I use consistently.

I think the author is kind of missing the point, having not used Foursquare himself. I think you could remove the "broadcast my position to friends" feature and it would still be useful/fun. It's still cool to become the mayor of the corner coffee shop, or get badges, or see how many other people are checking in at the bars around you.

(Note: I am not a Foursquare user either. Maybe I have no clue.)

"Oh, did you really just eat lunch at Subway? Why the hell do you think anybody cares to know that?"

Thats not an uncommon opinion of facebook or twitter.

Coming from a facebook fan site, the vitriol throughout the article seems misplaced, and the facebook exceptions at the end ("Granted, Facebook was built so we can see how boring everybody else’s lives were, _but_") just seem like apologia.

I don't use foursquare, and don't see the point, but that hasn't stopped anyone from using it, and if he doesn't like it, he should do the same.

Also, his conclusion seems to completely contradict the rest of his rant: if no one is using foursquare, then why is he so annoyed that all of his friends bombard him with status updates?

If nobody is using it, why even bother writing the article, let alone be so mad?

Great comment.

Foursquare harnesses the ubiquity of Twitter, Groupon, and Yelp with practically zero benefits in return for its usage.

I really don't get it, either.