Aliza Sherman: She Knows Social and Mobile: Mobile tech: Gombita speaks out against Foursquare

My account is a personal one. My main incentives and goals are to widen my (international) network, source and exchange information, monitor trends (in the public relations, communication management and social media industries), and to debate ideas and events, particularly those related to current affairs. My secondary incentive and goals are to be amused…and (hopefully) to amuse.

via www.mediastyle.ca

Fascinating and very detailed, well-thought-out blog post by Judy Gombita critizicing Foursquare, the GPS and message driven iPhone application that has gained popularity in certain circles.

My first thought is: I totally agree with her, and I totally disagree with her.

I'm a firm believer that each of us uses Twitter in very personal and individual ways. And that is a great thing about Twitter. You can use Twitter as a listening device, as a broadcast tool, a watercooler or conversations platform, a marketing tool, a place to get to know people, a place to let others get to know you, the sky is the limit.

I also believe that too much of any of the above can be a bad thing on Twitter. You have to find your balance and let other people find their balance as well.

Here is what Judy says Twitter is for her:

My account is a personal one. My main incentives and goals are to widen my (international) network, source and exchange information, monitor trends (in the public relations, communication management and social media industries), and to debate ideas and events, particularly those related to current affairs. My secondary incentive and goals are to be amused…and (hopefully) to amuse.

All great and wonderful goals as someone who is an engaged participant on Twitter.

So Judy made a few comments to me about my recent postings from Foursquare to Twitter:

jgombita

@alizasherman ack, didn't realize you were @boresquare user in twitter.

and:

jgombita

.@alizasherman understand/appreciate that ppl find Foursquare "fun" & useful. But pushing to twitter obnoxious. My take: http://tr.im/JPnG

And then I think she unfollowed me after that. Which is fine - totally her prerogative, of course. But I found it curious that my explanations of why I'm using Foursquare and currently posted check-ins to Twitter didn't assuage her fears and she decided I was yet another annoying "@boresquare" user, as she puts it.

We all have our different tolerances for what we perceive as "spam" on Twitter, and when you follow less than 500 people as Judy does, I'm sure Foursquare check-in tweets show up with a more glaring invasive-ness than when you follow more than 1500.

When I used to see a Foursquare check-in from someone I followed - before the service was available in Alaska - I was curious, fascinated and then eventually just ignored them and moved on to the next tweet on the fast-moving Twitterstream from the people I follow. It became no big deal and only an occasional reminder of what I was "missing" by not being able to use Foursquare where I lived.

Why I Love Foursquare (Right Now)

I joined Foursquare during my recent visit to New York City when I met with some of the luminaries of Silicon Alley and some dear friends who I have not seen for years. Many of them were Foursquaring, and I asked a lot of questions about the application before I downloaded it that day.

Then I returned to Alaska with a week's stay in Anchorage for some speaking engagements. I decided to break in Foursquare, and I absolutely love it so far.

Here's what I love about Fourquare:

1. Connecting: I'm only in Anchorage every 6-8 weeks. Otherwise, I'm holed up in Tok, a rural part of Alaska at the crossroads of the Alaska Highway near Canada. Being able to check-in around Anchorage and also broadcasting to Twitter let's me notify friends and colleagues who don't get to see often about my whereabouts - and also that I'm on Foursquare so if they are, too, then hopefully they will friend me there.

2. Socializing: Foursquare is saving me a lot of time trying to track friends down during the day. I can just check-in somewhere or pay attention to their check-ins and instantly know that we're merely blocks away from one another making meeting for a spontaneous coffee or lunch instantly convenient.

3. Discovering: Being limited to 1 restaurant in Tok (Fast Eddy's), it is a joy to come to Anchorage and be able to not only visit old favorites (Middleway, Dish, Coffee Cats) but to also discover new places and get instant recommendations (Tips) from my Foursquare friends. I know to order the tater tots appetizer with everything on it at Spenard Roadhouse, a relatively new place that I still haven't been to yet. I can check all the tips in my vicinity and learn about all sorts of things that I wouldn't have easily known any other way.

4. Promoting: I love being able to enter a new place in Anchorage, to give kudos to my favorite places, to make recommendations for others. I want to speak to some of the hipper places in Anchorage about offering something special to Mayors. I want to see Anchorage being a hot spot for Foursquare so many people benefit.

5. Participating: I love the Leaderboard and friendly competition between Foursquare friends to have the most "influence" in an area. I'm all ready to be the mayor of every establishment in Tok, but also will invite my friend Taryn who also has an iPhone to compete with me to be mayor. When you live in a cold, dark rural community in Alaska, Foursquare could qualify as non-stop fun.

I don't plan to continue tweeting out my Foursquare check-ins once I check-in to all the main places in Tok. After that point, I'll have built up my Foursquare friends list and will just broadcast to my actual friends.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Until then, I hope my followers will be patient with me or ignore my check-ins. I hope they won't bail out so quickly like Judy did. Because when I look at her description of why she is using Twitter, it seemed like we could have been pretty simpatico Twitterfriends:

- widen my (international) network. Check. She's in Canada, I'm in Alaska.

- source and exchange information. Check. I spend a lot of time tweeting and retweeting well-curated information.

- monitor trends (in the public relations, communication management and social media industries). Check. I'm a social media strategist and former PR/marketing person so my tweets tend to reflect this industry slant.

- debate ideas and events, particularly those related to current affairs. Check. I'm always interested in debating current affairs issues.

- to be amused…and (hopefully) to amuse. Check. I've been told I'm quite funny although I'm sure I'm an acquired taste.

Oh, Judy Gombita, we could have been such good Twitterfriends. But alas, Foursquare came between us. Such is life in the Twittersphere. Adieu.

What are YOUR thoughts and feelings about Foursquare?

Comments

So funny... I just did a post on interface issues in social media.

I remember when similar issues made the rounds on live journal. I think though sometimes twitter's interface makes it too difficult to "turn down" the volume without "turning off" the connection.

And that makes me kinda sad...

on and BTW we met FOREVER ago with the whole webgrrls thing in i think like 96-97...

Posted by: Silona | January 18, 2010 at 12:47 PM

I LOVE foursquare and I'm a big user (actually, I'm even a super user). However I'm against auto-updating Twitter with Foursquare check-ins.

Now I'm not as passionate as Judy--I do not unfollow people who do, just get minorly irked when my stream is flooded with Foursquare updates.

Also I *do* occasionally tweet about my Foursquare experience--for reasons similar to what you mentioned, but when I do I construct a new Tweet. (For example I tweeted when someone ousted me as the mayor of my gym, making a joke about how I was clearly not working out enough)

But the main reason I'm against auto-updating is that Foursquare allows you to add your Twitter friends (who are also using FS). Therefore if someone is interested in Foursquare and getting my updates, we'll be foursquare friends as well as Twitter friends.

Same goes for Facebook, and I admit I get a little irked when I read the same update three times (i.e. someone I'm connected with on Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook)

I consider all three different tools with different audiences and purposes (and yes, there's crossover, but that's even more reason to not cross-post)

While there may be friends on Twitter/FB who haven't heard of Foursquare and may benefit from me talking about it-- I think they'd benefit more from a personal thought out tweet/status update rather than an auto-posted check-in.

That's my take on it at least. (And actually extends to any cross-posting of social media tools)

Bottom line however, is you can use any tool any way you like, chances are someone's not going to like something you're doing.

Kelly (aka @krusk)

Posted by: Kelly Rusk | January 19, 2010 at 10:30 AM

Silona - just followed you on Twitter & loved your blog post about friending/unfriending!

Kelly - just as I said in my post, to each his & her own, right? Each of us have our preferences, quirks, habits, and ways we use and consume. None is really wrong per se. The beauty of social media is we actually do have choice. What is the other adage: You can't please all the people all of the time. Thanks for the comment!

Posted by: aliza sherman | January 19, 2010 at 03:58 PM

There are some people who seem to tweet only using FourSquare and it does get annoying. Sorry, but to me it becomes a form of spam. I've unfollowed several people recently whose primary communication on Twitter seems to be FourSquare their precise whereabouts.

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