Foursquare (or Location-Based Updates – Part II)

In my last post, I talked about Ubertwitter and the virtues (or lack thereof) of a location-based status update. I wish I had waited one more day to post because I just read an article on Mashable about a similar service called Foursquare. Addressing the value of location-based services (which I raised in my last post), Foursquare may have cracked the code. Mashable even proclaims it might be the next Twitter.

Foursquare

Foursquare is pretty much what I discussed last time but adds an ability to make recommendations as well as a game component. You send updates but also include stuff like “Best burger in NYC is at Shake Shack“. You only get to make 12 recommendations to ensure you only give your favorites. You also can save 12 “to-do” items which you read from others.

Foursquare’s game component makes it unlike other similar land-based applications. You get points for checking in from the same location with the person with the most points becoming “mayor” of that locale. Your lofty status is only for a week when everyone’s slate is wiped clean.

Unlike Ubertwitter, Foursquare actually provides a reason to include a GPS component to your status update. In other words, your location actually has meaning (as opposed to a superfluous appendage). To read more about this service, read the Mashable Foursquare article.

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Too UberTwitter, Or Not To UberTwitter

It’s hard to keep up with the many Twitter applications and support sites which attempt (with varying degrees of success) to enhance the Twitter experience.

One such site which intrigues me is UberTwitter. Some pretty well known Twitterers (Is that a word?) are using it. UberTwitter works with a Blackberry device and essentially adds a GPS component to your tweets. When you send a tweet, a Google map with a virtual pin marking identifies your location at the time you made the tweet. This site is interesting to me because it is similar to an idea which I submitted on Idea Blob some 5 months ago. I called it Auto-Twitter. To read the specifics, go to Idea Blob/Auto-Twitter. The only difference is that your locale would be automatically added to the tweet including what you were doing. So, for example, if you were tweeting from the Mets game, Auto-Twitter would know you were at the Mets game and might even add the score and inning.

Anyway, UberTwitter doesn’t add much other than the Tweeter’s location. Seeing it in action, however, makes me think differently about it. First off, what is the benefit of knowing where the Tweeter is located? If that significant, surely the Tweeter will include that information anyway (and vice-a-versa). Second, what if you don’t want people to know where you are located? You may forget that it is being added to the message and unwittingly reveal that you are someplace that you aren’t supposed to be.

I am still open-minded. If you have any thoughts about whether this is a good or bad product, I’d love to read your comments.

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