I just signed up after reading a few articles, mainly to figure this network out, and because I was particularly curious after reading how Harvard is using Foursquare to test it on campus and the surrounding Cambridge area.
Buzz, Ning and Foursquare are networks to monitor closely in 2010, say the experts, although the most interesting one to me is Foursquare, probably because it’s different whereas the other two are more or less the same as Facebook and Twitter.
Foursquare utilizes the GPS of your mobile phone and allows you to “check-in” with the app to tell your friends where you are; a library, park, restaurant, museum, anywhere in the world. If your friends are nearby or at that location, and also happen to check in… suddenly serendipity takes over! There’s excellent marketing and PR potential for businesses, as users get special badges, rewards and can become “mayors” of places and events by checking in on Foursquare.
There are things this new app needs to iron out, like adding more smartphones for direct access, but that should come soon enough. Like Twitter, this network is slowly catching on, but will turn mainstream quickly once it becomes popular. I read today that Foursquare is currently signing contracts with MTv and other big networks. I couldn’t tell it was already such a sought after app, especially because when I signed up only eight out of over 3,300 of my gmail contacts were on Foursquare.
I wonder how that number will increase in a couple of months.
While I’m not quite ready to become a mayor of my daughter’s favorite ice cream parlor just yet, or of my Bikram yoga studio, I signed up all the same!