Unlock your world?

By Niniane Veldhoen on 26 April 2011

I don’t get it… Foursquare or feest.je for that matter. I really don’t get it. My housemate gets it. I see him ‘checking in’ all the time. And he gets all excited when he finally is the major of Crossmedialab again. The smile on his face rises, he almost starts jumping around. The face of the girl he kicked of the major-thrown isn’t so happy no more. What is the fun of checking in at the same location every day? Going to work and checking in at work, so your friends know you’re at work? Where else would you be.. Or checking in at stefs (the school pub) every day.. to let your friends know you’re in a bar, every day? I don’t get it. 

At least we’re making the job of a burglar more easy. They come to know exactly when you’re at home or not, and even how far you are away from your home, so they know how much time they have to empty your house. I don’t get it. 

With their promo video they tell me that joining foursquare will unlock my world.
I didn’t know my world was locked.. Maybe I should try it then. I am curious what kind of world there is which is locked for me at the moment, but as soon as I ‘Check in’ will reveal itself. A world full of exciting tips about bars and restaurants, offering me free beers or ice-cream if I become the major of their venue. They say that I can find happiness just around the corner. Again, I didn’t know that I lost happiness, but If ‘checking in’ on foursquare will help me find it, I am very curious how it’s going to do that! I still don’t get it.. Let’s try!

10 friends, 64 check-ins, 6 badges and 2 majorships later (my garden and my toilet)…. I get it a little bit more.. But I don’t have the feeling my world is unlocked! I can imagine that there are some advantages to the local based service. But in Holland it is still too unknown. After totally still not getting checking in everywhere, I had a look at the specials feature. That is quite nice. Too bad that most specials are only for the major. 

Another thing is that not every shop/restaurant/bar/etc. is on it yet. So I was in the center of Utrecht, thought let’s see if there is a nice place nearby witch I don’t know yet, and what did I find? Starbucks, holiday inn, media market and la place. No tips on exciting new places which unlock my world, no new experiences around the corner where I will find total happiness, just the big uninteresting multinationals I see right in front of me. Just a few seconds later I saw my friend checking in at the vingerhoed, so I went there and we had a blast. Thanks to foursquare? No, she texted me a few seconds later.. but I can pretend it was thanks to foursquare.. so I can say I might get it a little bit..

tagged with: foursquare, location based services

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