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Foursquare is one of the few startups that I actively dislike (because they are responsible for much more noise than signal). At least in my mind, their brand r

by neilc 16y ago

Foursquare is one of the few startups that I actively dislike (because they are responsible for much more noise than signal). At least in my mind, their brand represents some of the worst "Web 2.0"-era narcissism. Their growth is certainly impressive, but I really wonder how useful Foursquare will be, outside tech enthusiasts living in big cities.

arnorhs 16y ago
"Dislike" is a strong word. You may not find much use for it. But in ways, I agree. I especially hate all the "I'm here" status updates in my twitter feed. Maybe I'll change my mind when I finally get a smartphone, but until then it seems useless.
- benmathes 16y ago
  I have a smartphone now, and foursquare still has a terrible signal/noise ratio. What I wish is a service _like_ foursquare to come along that does the auto-checkin and broadcasting of location to your selected list of private contacts. I don't want to check in and see what people are up to, I want to be notified when people I like happen to be near me.
  - axod 16y ago
    It still seems like a small feature to be added to a phone, rather than a complete startup company to me though.
    - benmathes 16y ago
      Any android phone with location information has it -- it's called "google lattitude", but as far as I can tell it just broadcasts your location to EVERYONE.
yesimahuman 16y ago
I don't dislike it (I don't participate in it either), but I agree that these types of services have a long ways to go before they are adopted by the masses rather than just the tech community. But hey, it is a huge market. Once it appeals to the non-tech crowd it could be big.
dirtyaura 16y ago
I think there's a lot of interesting/useful stuff you can build on top of location-based service like Foursquare once enough people actively use it. I've always thought that Foursquare's initial check-in game is more about this bootstrapping phase: how to make Foursquare even remotely interesting, when none of your friends are yet using it. I've seen tons of startups that have cool ideas, but that require dense graph of active users to work. They rarely have good ideas how to get to that phase. I think Foursquare has been a super-clever using game mechanics in the initial phase.

by neilc 16y ago

arnorhs 16y ago

"Dislike" is a strong word. You may not find much use for it. But in ways, I agree. I especially hate all the "I'm here" status updates in my twitter feed. Maybe I'll change my mind when I finally get a smartphone, but until then it seems useless.

benmathes 16y ago
I have a smartphone now, and foursquare still has a terrible signal/noise ratio. What I wish is a service _like_ foursquare to come along that does the auto-checkin and broadcasting of location to your selected list of private contacts. I don't want to check in and see what people are up to, I want to be notified when people I like happen to be near me.
- axod 16y ago
  It still seems like a small feature to be added to a phone, rather than a complete startup company to me though.
  - benmathes 16y ago
    Any android phone with location information has it -- it's called "google lattitude", but as far as I can tell it just broadcasts your location to EVERYONE.

yesimahuman 16y ago

I don't dislike it (I don't participate in it either), but I agree that these types of services have a long ways to go before they are adopted by the masses rather than just the tech community. But hey, it is a huge market. Once it appeals to the non-tech crowd it could be big.

dirtyaura 16y ago

I think there's a lot of interesting/useful stuff you can build on top of location-based service like Foursquare once enough people actively use it. I've always thought that Foursquare's initial check-in game is more about this bootstrapping phase: how to make Foursquare even remotely interesting, when none of your friends are yet using it. I've seen tons of startups that have cool ideas, but that require dense graph of active users to work. They rarely have good ideas how to get to that phase. I think Foursquare has been a super-clever using game mechanics in the initial phase.