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explore = chasing yelp specials 2.0 = chasing groupon Foursquare's vision appears to be looking backward. Dennis Crowley's been thinking about this space for

explore = chasing yelp specials 2.0 = chasing groupon Foursquare's vision appears to be looking backward. Dennis Crowley's been thinking about this space for 10 years?

scorpion032 16y ago
Those are the natural extensions to the product. What would you rather do? ultra-checkin, super-checkin and more badges. "Cool quotient" is good enough to begin you with; but you need to get some real value out of it as well.
- IgorPartola 16y ago
  What real value can a checkin service potentially provide? (Serious question) I think there are a few things: deals from local businesses, meeting new people, interaction coordination. Deals are booming now. Groupon and LS are huge and do manage to provide me with value. I think Groupon's upcoming mobile offering is brilliant. The likes of foursquare can use this model successfully as well. Meeting new people is always a tough one, but it is what people want. Give someine a way to make new friends through your service in real life in a safe way and you'll strike gold. Interaction coordination is probably the most interesting thing I can think of. Imagine communities organizing events by using foursquare. You get invites. You check in. You pay for the event from your phone. You monitor long distance races by the participants' checkins. You participate in live events virtually by having your name flash on a giant screen. At a town fair you are randomly assigned a person and if you find them within a time limit and check in together you get a prize. A giant game of assasin based on checkins. The checkin itself is just a tool. Playing with a hammer is fun at first but unless you have something to nail it will get boring.
  - scorpion032 16y ago
    Thats exactly what I meant to say. Too bad the sarcasm in the first sentence is lost on you.
    - IgorPartola 16y ago
      No need to be brash. I understood your sarcasm. Just continued the thought further.
      - scorpion032 16y ago
        My bad then. Since you were trying to make the same point as I was, I was under the impression you got it wrong. To be fair, most replies in HN are arguments than "thought continuation"
  - harryh 16y ago
    Couldn't agree with your last sentence more. The same thing is true on the builder side of the table. Now that we've built a pretty decent hammer it's time to decide what else we can create with this nifty tool. Good metaphor!
SkyMarshal 16y ago
None of which are good reasons for not doing them. The best money makers (or most reliable, at least) are things that other people are already making money doing, if you can find a way do them just a little better.
jrockway 16y ago
I don't necessarily agree, but Microsoft's vision is also "looking backwards". They saw game consoles, made their own, and now it makes them money. It's great to predict the future by inventing it, but there's plenty of money to be made in improving existing technology.

explore = chasing yelp specials 2.0 = chasing groupon Foursquare's vision appears to be looking backward. Dennis Crowley's been thinking about this space for 10 years?

scorpion032 16y ago

Those are the natural extensions to the product. What would you rather do? ultra-checkin, super-checkin and more badges. "Cool quotient" is good enough to begin you with; but you need to get some real value out of it as well.

IgorPartola 16y ago
What real value can a checkin service potentially provide? (Serious question) I think there are a few things: deals from local businesses, meeting new people, interaction coordination. Deals are booming now. Groupon and LS are huge and do manage to provide me with value. I think Groupon's upcoming mobile offering is brilliant. The likes of foursquare can use this model successfully as well. Meeting new people is always a tough one, but it is what people want. Give someine a way to make new friends through your service in real life in a safe way and you'll strike gold. Interaction coordination is probably the most interesting thing I can think of. Imagine communities organizing events by using foursquare. You get invites. You check in. You pay for the event from your phone. You monitor long distance races by the participants' checkins. You participate in live events virtually by having your name flash on a giant screen. At a town fair you are randomly assigned a person and if you find them within a time limit and check in together you get a prize. A giant game of assasin based on checkins. The checkin itself is just a tool. Playing with a hammer is fun at first but unless you have something to nail it will get boring.
- scorpion032 16y ago
  Thats exactly what I meant to say. Too bad the sarcasm in the first sentence is lost on you.
  - IgorPartola 16y ago
    No need to be brash. I understood your sarcasm. Just continued the thought further.
    - scorpion032 16y ago
      My bad then. Since you were trying to make the same point as I was, I was under the impression you got it wrong. To be fair, most replies in HN are arguments than "thought continuation"
- harryh 16y ago
  Couldn't agree with your last sentence more. The same thing is true on the builder side of the table. Now that we've built a pretty decent hammer it's time to decide what else we can create with this nifty tool. Good metaphor!

SkyMarshal 16y ago

None of which are good reasons for not doing them. The best money makers (or most reliable, at least) are things that other people are already making money doing, if you can find a way do them just a little better.

jrockway 16y ago

I don't necessarily agree, but Microsoft's vision is also "looking backwards". They saw game consoles, made their own, and now it makes them money. It's great to predict the future by inventing it, but there's plenty of money to be made in improving existing technology.