Why I Hate Foursquare
Perhaps it’s not politically correct for the CEO of a digital marketing company to express his disgust with a strong new entry into the social media consciousness, and yet here I go. I hate Foursquare. OK, my kids tell me that “hate” is a really strong word, so let me rephrase – I strongly dislike Foursquare. And I don’t care who knows it.
Advocates of Foursquare say it’s the next big social media marketing platform. They say that businesses small and large should try to attract members of Foursquare because it will help them promote their business online. Even the New York Times has picked up on the hub-bub, so it has officially entered the public lexicon.
Foursquare is basically a social media game, which requires players to “check in” at various locations they visit as they vie to become the Mayor of that location. A dubious honor, this mayorship can sometimes lead to – are you ready for it? A free cup of coffee! Coupons for dollars off a sandwich! Maybe even a crown you can wear around town to let people know of your superior status.
So why do I hate Foursquare? Because its participants — many of whom reside in this very office and are people I trust and respect — continue to feel it necessary to share with me through their Twitter and Facebook streams exactly where they are at all times, and what they are buying/consuming/eating etc. Frankly, I do not care where you are. I don’t care that you are bra shopping. And I don’t care that you just unlocked the super-sonic, gold-plated badge level like some Worlds of Warcraft fanboy.
And I certainly don’t care that you are the mayor of the Hillcrest Subway. Or the mayor of Bailey Gardiner for that matter. What makes you think anyone actually does care, except for you and the owner of the business you are promoting by telling me where you are?
There are a lot of great online business models that already offer geolocation services and popularity ratings – and way better in my opinion. User generated content and public rating systems are not new, and there are great platforms like Yelp, Loopt, Chowhound, and even grand-daddies like TripAdvisor, that allow me to check people’s opinions about all sorts of things. But on my own time and according to my own set of search criteria.
Having people barge into my social media stream with updates about their current location is pretty much spam. It’s uninvited information from people I actually like, making it really hard to just turn off their Facebook updates or unfollow them on Twitter.
So do us all a favor Foursquare junkies – disconnect your relentless updates from your social media streams so we don’t all have to witness your trips to Subway, Starbucks and Target. Then you can become the Mayor Of Wherever The Hell You Want, and I don’t need to know about it.
Because really, no one cares except for the brands you are helping by mentioning them.
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I see where you’re coming from, and for the most part, agree. This needed to be said. But, as a marketer and a user, I can’t help but point out the few times where Foursquare does work to benefit the user and the business. Take for example the user who checks into say, Seaport Village. An active social media business, Seaport Village responds with a tip for the user – to stop into a particular store and pick up a discount to all of the Village, something the user didn’t know was available until they checked in on foursquare.
Very few places are doing this right now, and Foursquare still needs to figure out a way to eliminate the clutter from the users’ followers/fans, but there’s something here that CAN work both ways. I hope to see it go through some changes and work for the better in the future.
Lizzie´s last blog ..Why I Hate Foursquare
Thank you for the post! I completely agree. It’s like creepy big brother.
I totally agree – the updates are incredibly annoying! I don’t care where people are. If you’re somewhere important, offer some editorial on why you think it’s great (or not great) via a tweet or FB status update. In general I am not a fan of feeding updates from one social media platform to another. If I’m on Facebook, I don’t want to see your stream of tweets in my news feed. And if I’m on Twitter, I don’t want to know what you’re doing on FourSquare. Each platform requires its own update. I believe FourSquare has its place in the social media world, and I look forward to seeing it grow and develop. But let’s modify our settings people or you’ll start to lose the networks you’ve spent so much time building.
Carrie´s last blog ..Why I Hate Foursquare
I’m not keen on the creepy implications of Foursquare. I might as well wear a GPS and let every potential stalker know where I am with frequent check-ins. I’m surprised so many women have bought into this. We’re trained from the womb to be wary and cautious about our surroundings and what sort of information we reveal. Used recklessly and thoughtlessly, Foursquare is another assault on any pretense of privacy.
I agree with most of this actually (despite the fact that people seemed to have dubbed me a Foursquare advocate). Like Carrie, I am generally against using the same messaging across SM platforms, which is why I decided to disable my Foursquare to Twitter updates. I agree that those updates are probably best just going to the people who are using the platform.
However, I think all the uproar about it being spam is silly too. Not every one of anyone’s updates are interesting – nor do I expect them to be. Long ago I think we all accepted that 90 percent of what is on Twitter is crap, but it’s worth it to participate for the stuff that is good. Furthermore I just don’t see how it’s any more interesting when people twitpic their meal from a restaurant that they are at.
To me your Twitter stream is about showing who you are as a whole person, and therefore no one update matters all that much. If your stream was completely full of 4sq updates, yea that’s spam. But if there are a couple sprinkled in there – I just don’t see the harm.
All in all, I think this is a great post Jon, and I’m excited to see the conversation it spurs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I dont personally like the idea of letting the entire world know my exact location, I dont mind saying I’ve been somewhere and I liked it but this seems like its just asking for trouble! I hate it too, and it feels like spam to me. I couldnt care less if someone is the mayor of barnes and noble. No offence meant to people who love it….
I agree and disagree.
It is also difficult when you use a platform like Twitter for both professional and personal reasons. For example, people that follow me professionally care about my thoughts on marketing. People that follow me personally actually do care what I am up to and what I am doing.
Two interesting things have happened to me via Foursquare.
1. I was at a great restaurant the other night and “checked in” on Foursquare. I let that send a Tweet that I was at that restaurant. My friend saw that I went and asked my opinion and said they have been meaning to try it. This person isn’t even on Foursquare and saw that I was there on Twitter. This was a benefit to the restaurant and my Twitter follower.
2. I was at the Zoo last weekend and checked in on Foursquare. My friend saw (on Foursquare)that we were both at the Zoo and we hooked up for lunch!
As for the comments regarding stalking and women, you can easily disable the flow to Twitter if you don’t want anyone on Twitter to know where you are. Just like Facebook and Twitter, you can control who your friends are that have access to your whereabouts. Also, you have to manually check-in somewhere — so you always have a choice of sharing.
My opinion is that if you don’t like that someone is sending Foursquare info on Twitter, don’t follow them. I often don’t like the Tweets that people are putting out there but I simply ignore them and move on. Weigh which is more important, that you don’t like their Foursquare updates or you value their other insight and thought.
It sounds like most of the dialog here is surrounding the integration of Twitter and Foursquare. I hope that this integration does not overshadow the value of this tool to consumers, marketers and businesses.
Agree 100%, Jon. I hear all the marketing elements of it, loyalty, etc., but it just seems like an amalgam of a number of other apps, and a solution looking for a problem.
For recommendations, surely seeing a recommendation of a friend on 4sq can’t carry that much more weight than seeing a cumulative points rating on yelp. And for loyalty programs – many companies already have them, and use the collected data for their own marketing. Not possible with 4sq.
As for the Twitter integration, more irritating is that the type of person who integrates 4sq into their Twitter feed will also integrate their Twitter updates into their Facebook, and so you have two feeds inundated with 4sq check-ins.
However I think one of the biggest issues is the pleaserobme.com effect. What on earth happened to personal privacy? Not only, like Gayle, do I think it leaves you open to stalkers, but it also leaves you asking for your house to get broken into.
Wow – lots of commentary about this subject. I clearly hit a nerve, and judging from most responses, a polarizing one.
While as a marketer I of course support the careful adoption of new programs and platforms that allow businesses to promote their wares in this increasingly competitive marketplace, I remain unconvinced that a component of that process requires real-time geospecific updates. Even if I did care you were shopping at Target while I was also there, would I want to hook up with you while there? And more importantly to Target, would I buy more stuff just because you were there too?
I dunno guys.
Jon´s last blog ..Why I Hate Foursquare
Someone had to say it! Though there can be benefits to Foursquare (Jennifer’s lunch at the zoo sounds like fun!), they are outweighed by the cons.
Bridget Garwitz´s last blog ..BridgetGarwitz: The political seasaw- "I want to be liberal! I want to be conservative!" says public opinion. Sure makes it hard to follow thru either way.
Bingo, Jon. Make it a “walled garden” for Foursquare aficionados only, and I think we’ll all be happier.
I agree with Lizzie, I was vacationing in San Francisco and got invited to a nearby wine tasting event because I checked in on Brightkite. I would not have known about it otherwise.
Perhaps you may not want to meet up with someone at Target, but maybe there is someone who would really like you to pick up something, or even check the price or availability of an item.
Isn’t this really Twitter’s fault for not providing you with decent filtering? This is something I have complained about for years. Facebook lets you mute applications, why not Twitter? Why not let Foursquare updates on the site but not mobile, from the same user? Then you could use TweetDeck or some other Twitter app to further filter them out.
You don’t hate Foursquare, you hate the absolute piece of junk that Twitter is and you don’t even know it. Foursquare is a symptom not the disease.
I love love love the idea of location based social networking. It’s so exciting to see someone random you know, at a Padres game for instance, and spend time with an old friend you wouldn’t otherwise have called.
The way it works now, I don’t see how Foursquare is doing that. It does seem to be the leader of location based networking, so I hope they do go the direction of bringing friends together rather than esoteric WOW-like achievements.
Chris Bauer´s last blog ..The best equalizer settings
So spot on. I do agree that it’s spam in my social media steam to some degree. If someone is checking in here or there maybe once a day then okay… but it is those people that check in 10 times in a row, as they are driving down the street at every stoplight or, I even saw one from inside a tunnel…that need to think about what they are doing to all those that follow them. It kind of goes back to social media 101. People who have their 4square hooked to twitter and fb need to disconnect. Play within your own network on foursquare. Or do it in moderation.
Leah Kaiz´s last blog ..Facebook Friend or Spammer?
The solution seems simple.
First off, I love Foursquare (at least my ego does). Everyday I earn a status (badge/points) that gets me one step closer to earning free/discounted something AND get clarity and understanding around how my clients/business can use this application to their advantage.
If everyone committed to filtering shouts from foursquare to their twitter feeds(and/or FB status) only if there is value-added/ education content, wouldn’t we all just get along?
I think your comments have helped us all better understand the special nuances of foursquare politics, and I agree with Steve and Lauren and the rest – what really bugs most is the incessant updates via twitter. So really, perhaps this is a twitter/FB issue?
Bottom line, I still do not care where you are though…
Jon´s last blog ..Tips for Using Social Media for Customer Service Support
Thanks for this post, I also hate this kind of user generated spam.
I can’t agree more with you.
The internet is about real person to person conversations. But with such service, we’re back to the one-way old fashioned advertising pushed to people. They just added the geo-location…
[...] a step in the right direction in terms of making an application that people seem to either love or hate into something that has real value for businesses and their [...]
On a personal level, I agree with you. When someone links their Foursquare to their Twitter or Facebook, it drives me insane – especially as I use Twitter more as an RSS feed than anything else. I don’t care to know where people are or what they are doing on a personal level, all that much.
However, from a brand marketing point of view, it does have its advantages, especially from a retail standpoint.
I do believe that Foursquare is something that will remain niche (within reason) due to security issues and it will never garner the levels of coverage that Twitter has, because no celebrity in their right mind would use the tool.
We will just have to wait and see how it develops.
With respect to jennifer personette and Steve Ceruti, those are things that can occur on Twitter anyway, without having to use Foursquare. You don’t need to check in to update that you’re at the zoo or at a wine tasting… you can just do it.
I’d say the problem isn’t the Twitter integration, it’s that Foursquare encourages people to update (frequently) in all the worst, most annoying-to-your-follower ways.
Sorry Eric, I can’t let you get away with that. Because you don’t want to see Foursquare updates you would ask Foursquare users to a) check-in to Foursquare and then b) post a Twitter update. That makes no sense.
Now, to be completely honest I have stopped using Foursquare. I am playing with Gowalla but I rarely tweet or post a Facebook update unless I have something extra to say. But, I do appreciate being able to post a status from the tool just as I appreciate the ability to share pictures, web pages and just about everything else (via my Droid) through Twitter integration.
However, saying a tool shouldn’t provide integration means that you are taking away choices. If Twitter would build in any kind of filtering or rule mechanisms then that would give people more choices.
Facebook provides the perfect model. I don’t give two rats patooties about Farmville. Blessed was the day that I learned I could just click on the stupid updates and ignore the whole application. I didn’t go around trying to tell people to stop posting Farmville status.
I hate it. More then anything ever. I follow people on twitter because they are relevant to my interests, what is not relevant however is finding out who is in my friends kitchen. I couldn’t give a tiny rats ass.
Joey Nova´s last blog ..Oh My God! They Drew Muhammad!
It’s completely big brother and way more information than what I need or care to see. Information overload is bad enough without more work in my day linking to every location one wants to share. WHO CARES… is correct!
I totally concur.
Context is what its all about. I made a plea to various software developers today. Here is hoping they hear…http://blog.whyhire.me/2010/06/the-social-needs-context-please/
Andy´s last blog ..Andy Church has published a new blog entry. The social needs context..please
So… why don’t you just block Foursquare updates from your stream and move on?
Last time I looked, Hootsuite only filtered in keywords. It did not filter out. This enhancement was suggested:) When it comes, this point is moot.