Addicted To Foursquare

I have to admit, I have an addiction. No it is nothing that will cause me to drive drunk or have to go to rehab. But instead it is a game that ties together two of my favorite things that fit right into my businesses forte', social networking and location based services.

The game is Foursquare.

I first have to say I am not much of a game player, it is not that I do no like games, I just do not have much time to play them. But Foursquare is different, it goes to the core of what I do everyday, I interact with people on social networks and I travel place to place, oh yeah and I get to compete with my friends and others to see who can do all that the most. Did I mention competition? Yeah that is what got me hooked, I hate to lose, people say I am overly obsessed with winning. I am pretty sure I have an addiction to checking my score to make sure I am ahead of the people I work with daily.

Now, as fun as it is there is always a business angle. As someone who spends time thinking daily about what is happening next as far as social media and local search and how this all plays together for revenue opportunities I have seen the future and it is tying location based services that are inherently mobile into revenue through various advertising mediums. Add social media, stir and you have success. Exact recipe and mix yet to be put on paper:)

I had been keeping an eye on Foursquare since it really started gaining momentum last year but had not jumped in until a couple months back, it did not take me long to get why it is taking off. Other than the competitive nature of it as more people come online it is nice to walk into an area, check-in and see what friends are there.

What is really strange is I can remember working on various location based services while at Lucent back in the early 00's and thinking of the potential but at the time the infrastructure was just not there to take it to a level that was usable. It is amazing how much the iPhone along with ubiquitous mobile broadband (ok so there are so gaps but in the whole scheme of things coverage is ok) has done as far as taking us to the next steps of how we use the internet.  Wait until the iPad embeds itself in our daily life.

OK, time to go check-in somewhere and become mayor. You can sign up and play at Foursquare.com

BTW, to see a smart idea to get people moving on Foursquare check out the Foursquare Day Facebook page.