Has anyone played with FourSquare yet? It works with iPhones, Blackberrys, Palm & Google Android phones. I experimented with it last night in the city and it was interesting.

 

http://foursquare.com/

 

There is even a mobile site for those that don't have one of the platforms above.

 

http://foursquare.com/mobile

No, but as much as my Twitter account is getting flooded and spammed with it, I may give it a shot.

When I first heard about it I thought about partaking, but now given all the craziness surrounding it I will probably just keep my distance.  I don't really think I need any additional tech things cluttering my life.

LOL... Randy, you know you want to participate. ;)

My assistant is a FourSquare freak. Mayor of this, Mayor of that.  Everywhere he goes he's on there telling people where he is.  It's addictive!

Actually, after seeing my feed being flooded (and now spammed) with that, I'm going to decline.

Actually, after seeing my feed being flooded (and now spammed) with that, I'm going to decline.

 

You can stop that, change your settings

What places in NEO ( or elsewhere in Ohio) offer discounts and whatnot to the Mayors?

Actually, after seeing my feed being flooded (and now spammed) with that, I'm going to decline.

 

You can stop that, change your settings

 

I shouldn't have to. I am defriending anyone who starts flooding my feed with 4Square or any other game.

I'm using it but rarely spam my Twitter/Facebook feed with my notifications. It's a cool way to see who may be at local venues around you...

I started using it a few days ago but I don't allow it to update my Twitter or Facebook feeds.  If someone wants to see what I'm doing on FourSquare, they can just become my friend on FourSquare -- No need to spam everyone else.

I refuse to use FourSquare.

What places in NEO ( or elsewhere in Ohio) offer discounts and whatnot to the Mayors?

Yelp might have just killed FourSquare.  You don't have the "mayor" aspect but it allows check-ins and is more feature rich.

Bumping this thread.  Since I have had my Droid Incredible for almost two months now I decided to start playing around with foursquare.  I like it.  It adds more fun to checking into places.

 

Haven't tried Yelp yet though.  A have a bunch of friends who use foursquare and only one I know uses Yelp...

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

Not at all. You control who sees your check-ins.

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

Id like to ask why you think this?

 

As others have pointed out, only your "friends" can see where you check in.

 

Are you saying that you don't trust the people you would friend on FS.

 

 

Now, if you have it linked to Facebook and/or Twitter then a larger audience can see.

foursquare is fun! I use it, but 90% of the time its check into work, check into the gym, check into the grocery store.

 

It reminds me how mundane my life can be at times.

 

The only entertaining aspect of foursquare was watching a couple friends of mine battle it out for Sherwin-Williams Company Mayor a while back.

.

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

other way around -- its a safety notice. meaning i use it when i want my spouse or 4sq friends to know where i am. thats what its best for, particularly since i work in shady neighborhoods and sometimes end up in divey joints - ha.

 

i used to go for the badges and mayorships and leave tips, but gave all that up a long time ago -- until the other day when probably every local 4sq-er got an epic swarm badge for the snowpocalypse!

The only entertaining aspect of foursquare was watching a couple friends of mine battle it out for Sherwin-Williams Company Mayor a while back.

 

Oh my God.  That's thing 1 & 2.  Battling over who is the Mayor of the building, The train station, starbucks, The bank, etc. 

 

One day, I was in the office at about 10AM.  I hear thing 1 curse because he was sent a message that thing 2 stole his Mayorship.  at about 11 AM, Thing 1 says he's going to the bathroom, "so watch the phones".  about 5 minutes after that, I hear thing 2 say, "that bitch stole my Mayorship!"

 

I just looked at him.  They are worse than the teenagers in my family.

I don't get it. You tell people where you are? Just another tool used by the pentaverat to control us all......(yes, Colonel, I know you're still trying to control me, with yer wee beady eyes...'ooooh, you're gonna eat mah chicken...)

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

Id like to ask why you think this?

 

As others have pointed out, only your "friends" can see where you check in.

 

Are you saying that you don't trust the people you would friend on FS.

 

 

Now, if you have it linked to Facebook and/or Twitter then a larger audience can see.

 

Yes, that's exactly why I say it.  I get hundreds of these check-in notices on Twitter every day. I know where people work, I know when they're at the coffee shop, etc.

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

Id like to ask why you think this?

 

As others have pointed out, only your "friends" can see where you check in.

 

Are you saying that you don't trust the people you would friend on FS.

 

 

Now, if you have it linked to Facebook and/or Twitter then a larger audience can see.

 

Yes, that's exactly why I say it.  I get hundreds of these check-in notices on Twitter every day. I know where people work, I know when they're at the coffee shop, etc.

However, you're missing the point.  The user controls who they share that information with.  If you check in on FS, with each check in, you have to let FS know that you want to share that on twitter and facebook. Obviously the person/persons you get updates from are comfortable sharing that on twitter/facebook.  In addition you can control how information is secured on FB/TW.  My facebook status can only be seen by friends.  My information cannot be shared or seen in their friends FB status.

 

I look at it this way, if a person you've accepted as friend isn't trustworthy, why are they a social network friend?

joking aside, what is the real point of this service? I know eventually it's a step toward stores recognizing when a consumer is nearby and throwing promotions / coupons toward that consumer. But, today, it appears to be limited to saying to your network ' hey, I'm here'. Is there more to it?

joking aside, what is the real point of this service? I know eventually it's a step toward stores recognizing when a consumer is nearby and throwing promotions / coupons toward that consumer. But, today, it appears to be limited to saying to your network ' hey, I'm here'. Is there more to it?

 

Actually on the back end businesses use this to trend customers.  They use this to communicate with customers in real time and "Mayors" often receive specials.

 

It's also a way to track where you've been.

joking aside, what is the real point of this service? I know eventually it's a step toward stores recognizing when a consumer is nearby and throwing promotions / coupons toward that consumer. But, today, it appears to be limited to saying to your network ' hey, I'm here'. Is there more to it?

 

Actually on the back end businesses use this to trend customers. They use this to communicate with customers in real time and "Mayors" often receive specials.

 

It's also a way to track where you've been.

 

The back end use makes sense, although I just read something yesterday saying that only 1% of Americans use FS right now, so the data probably isn't that reliable just yet.

 

I feel on the front end, I'm giving up info without getting much back. As it evolves, it will likely make more sense, but it's not for me just yet.

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

Id like to ask why you think this?

 

As others have pointed out, only your "friends" can see where you check in.

 

Are you saying that you don't trust the people you would friend on FS.

 

 

Now, if you have it linked to Facebook and/or Twitter then a larger audience can see.

 

Yes, that's exactly why I say it. I get hundreds of these check-in notices on Twitter every day. I know where people work, I know when they're at the coffee shop, etc.

However, you're missing the point. The user controls who they share that information with. If you check in on FS, with each check in, you have to let FS know that you want to share that on twitter and facebook. Obviously the person/persons you get updates from are comfortable sharing that on twitter/facebook. In addition you can control how information is secured on FB/TW. My facebook status can only be seen by friends. My information cannot be shared or seen in their friends FB status.

 

I look at it this way, if a person you've accepted as friend isn't trustworthy, why are they a social network friend?

 

That's all good in theory, but Twitter doesn't work the same way as FB.  You can have thousands of people following you or you following them and you don't know any of them.  I don't think I know ANY of my twitter followers in real life and I have a couple hundred of them.

Of the 350 or so that I follow, I only know two of them IRL, have never met any of the others or interacted with them in any other way online. These people are broadcasting where they are every minute of the day to whomever is following them on Twitter, which can be hundreds of people they don't know at all.

I think it's a pretty good way to advertise to robbers when you're not home, and won't be for awhile.

 

Id like to ask why you think this?

 

As others have pointed out, only your "friends" can see where you check in.

 

Are you saying that you don't trust the people you would friend on FS.

 

 

Now, if you have it linked to Facebook and/or Twitter then a larger audience can see.

 

Yes, that's exactly why I say it.  I get hundreds of these check-in notices on Twitter every day. I know where people work, I know when they're at the coffee shop, etc.

However, you're missing the point.  The user controls who they share that information with.  If you check in on FS, with each check in, you have to let FS know that you want to share that on twitter and facebook. Obviously the person/persons you get updates from are comfortable sharing that on twitter/facebook.  In addition you can control how information is secured on FB/TW.  My facebook status can only be seen by friends.  My information cannot be shared or seen in their friends FB status.

 

I look at it this way, if a person you've accepted as friend isn't trustworthy, why are they a social network friend?

 

That's all good in theory, but Twitter doesn't work the same way as FB.  You can have thousands of people following you or you following them and you don't know any of them.  I don't think I know ANY of my twitter followers in real life and I have a couple hundred of them.

Of the 350 or so that I follow, I only know two of them IRL, have never met any of the others or interacted with them in any other way online. These people are broadcasting where they are every minute of the day to whomever is following them on Twitter, which can be hundreds of people they don't know at all.

 

That's not true on twitter.  If you set your account to "protect my tweets", only you and the people who follow you can see your account/tweets.  They are not public and are not visible to the general public.

 

example.  Your account is private.  AJ93 follows you.  I follow AJ93.  In your timeline/mentions/retweets, AJ93 will be able to see your tweets, but I will not.  If I click on your name all I'll see it a locked screen.

"only you and the people who follow you."

 

These are strangers. I follow over 300 strangers.  Over 150 strangers follow me.  That's what I'm saying.

"only you and the people who follow you."

 

These are strangers. I follow over 300 strangers.  Over 150 strangers follow me.  That's what I'm saying.

Then those 150 people will see that.  Once again, you do not have to send information from FS to Twitter.  So it's a moot point, right?

It's not moot, because what I described is happening.  It only takes 1 stranger to rob you. If you are in cleveland and are interested in robbing people and start following other people in cleveland, it won't take you more than about 10 people to follow before you find someone who broadcasts where they are every minute of the day on FourSquare.  There is a girl who "checks in" every day at her job, including the name of the company and address, so you know when she arrives every day. And another one that always stops at a particular starbucks and checks in every day.  And another girl who checks in when she's at the mall or whatever. This just advertises "I'm not home now!"  At least 2 of these people are well known enough in town that it would be very easy to find out where they actually live - both advertise what city they live in and it's just not that hard to track people down.  I just don't think FourSquare robberies are too far behind these people. I mean, how easy are you making it for robbers if you are telling them that you work a full-time office job and are gone all day, what time you leave each day, you blog about what city you live in, the block party you went to, so you know what neighborhood, etc.  It's not that hard.

^ otoh, for example i can see you friending your s.o. on 4sq and checking in after you safely made it over the river and thru the woods to grandmother's house. i'm sure your s.o. would want to know that and where else you went, but not necessarily interrupt you all night with phone calls. or your friends would want to know your next stop and that you made it home ok. basically its good for someone you trust to know the last place you were when you are out and about. well thats mostly what we use it for. you certainly dont have to use it everyday like that!

Not at all. You control who sees your check-ins.

 

Actually that's just a myth....just like the privacy settings on facebook.  The casual user may not be able to see your settings.  But there's a growing internet security problem of people getting around these settings and getting access to people's private information. 

 

This is even more worrisome:

Researchers at McAfee Labs predicted on Dec. 28 that cyber-criminals will target the latest and talked about online platforms, including Google TV, Apple’s iPhone, and foursquare, in 2011.

 

 

Makes me think back to the humble old days when my university was just 1 of 10 schools that had facebook available to them.  Back then it was okay to post your address and phone number.  When the exclusivity went away it just opened the door to all the same problems as myspace.  And now with mobile phone check-ins, it's even worse.

yeah but when the exclusivity went away the posting of addresses and phone numbers went away -- the social network sites are as anonymous as you want them to be. i worry more about using credit cards online.

Foursquare for Sex : Spoof : NSFW

 

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1946209