Guest Post! Do I Still Care About Foursquare?

Gotta Catch 'em all! - Check-In-Mon

I was totally addicted to Foursquare.  I can’t even explain why except that maybe it made me feel as if I occasionally left the house.  I only followed about 5 people, and those same followed me, but gosh darn it, it was important to me that I was at the top of that leaderboard.

My obsession started while on a retreat with my colleagues. Every time we arrived somewhere, we whipped out our phones and checked in. Rather pathetic, but oh so satisfying.  Until I discovered that my colleague was essentially cheating. She wouldn’t actually go to some of these places, she’d check in if she was near them.  We called foul. Even the app cried foul, awarding her a badge that was the equivalent of a “Get a Life” badge. “That is digital douchebaggery,” I said. “Completely cheating.” And we all promptly started doing it ourselves.

But then I came back home and suddenly I don’t care.  I rarely go anywhere particularly interesting, and I never bother to check to see where my friends are.  I’m the mayor of my apartment (I better be!) and have a constant battle for the mayorship of Corner Bakery, which I find somewhat entertaining.  But usually I forget to check in places. I’ve only received a Foursquare deal once, and it wasn’t enough to keep me coming back. I’m on a BlackBerry, so most of the time the app doesn’t even work.

So now that the shine is off the shiny new object, what am I supposed to do with this thing?


Karen Woodward is a freelance social media manager and writer. That means she posts for clients’ social media channels, runs social ad campaigns, writes marketing plans and functions as a Social Media Jill-of-all-Trades.

She comes to social media by way of the entertainment industry, where she worked for over ten years in development, production, and marketing. On a break from the entertainment world, Karen received a master’s degree in Media Studies from Syracuse University where she wrote her thesis on the popularity of Gwen Stefani. While in school, she began writing professionally about television and new media, and managed a website geared to young Hollywood. After returning to Los Angeles she managed the official websites for a number of celebrities before changing her focus to social media. YOu can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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4 Responses to “Guest Post! Do I Still Care About Foursquare?”

  1. PJ August 4, 2011 at 10:02 am #

    Blah! I hate Foursquare. I had to block a friend who posts nothing to Twitter or Facebook but his 4sq crap. If he goes to a different room in his office building, he checks in.If he goes to the bathroom or the parking lot or from one conference room to another or to the breakroom, he checks in. Super annoying. People don’t need to know all that.

    • Karen August 6, 2011 at 1:52 am #

      Exactly. I don’t understand people who do that. Why do I care where they are? And hey - I know they aren’t at home. Maybe I should go rob them.

  2. Morgan August 4, 2011 at 12:19 pm #

    Hey Karen!

    Honestly, I love Foursquare. I love being able to battle with my friends for top positions. Does that make me an attention whore? Not really, it just makes for a fun activity for when all my friends go out somewhere. Like you, I don’t really care when I’m going to a place myself, but it’s fun to have that friendly competition.

    It’s definitely not for everyone, though, but I still quite enjoy it.

    • Karen August 6, 2011 at 1:57 am #

      Hi Morgan. I’m not particularly competitive, so maybe that’s why Foursquare isn’t my thing. (Although for those initial 3 days I was crushed if I wasn’t on top of the leaderboard.) But now I only get mildly PO-ed when someone usurps my rightful position as Mayor of Corner Bakery. (Not that being mayor has brought anything but mild satisfaction.)

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