I just joined Foursquare last month at the urging of a friend who lives in Brooklyn. “This way I can see if you’re ever in the neighborhood, and we can hang out,” he said. I muttered something about calling him if I wanted to hang out, but whatever. I’m nothing if not curious, so a-Foursquaring I a-went.
I don’t know if you’ve ever played an RPG, one of those video games where you’re on a long, epic quest and there are lots of little side quests and mini-games that are not strictly necessary but they get you more points? Well, if you have then you will understand me when I say that Foursquare became instantly addicting. Points! POINTS. I must have the pooooooints!
You might think that’s silly and look down your nose at people who use Foursquare, but hey, you can go hang out with the people who refuse to say Twitter is anything but a waste of time. If you don’t like it, don’t use it, but don’t get all huffy about something that is, at worst, a harmless game.
Anyway. /wagging finger.
But as with any new social network, I’m not exactly sure what etiquette to follow. At first I had my settings fixed so that only Foursquare friends would see my check-ins. But I had just started playing, so I only had like 5 friends. So then I ticked the box that would send my check-ins to Twitter as well. The majority of my Twitter friends are in NYC and the odds are not impossible that we could run into each other and spend a nice ten minutes chatting at the park, was my reasoning. Now I find myself balancing on a double-edged sword: on the one hand, plenty of Twitter friends have engaged me in conversation about some of the places I go (“Oh, that’s where you work?” “How is that place?” “So jealous that you’re at Nintendo World!”) and that’s fun.
On the other hand, some Twitter friends have been passive aggressively (or overtly aggressively) tweeting their thoughts on seeing Foursquare updates from their Twitter friends and they do not like it. I can see why it would annoy tweeps who aren’t in the geographic area and don’t really care about where to find a good place for lunch in Midtown. And I can also see why seeing my daily check-in at the office could get old.
Surely, as with everything, it’s a personal choice when it comes to using Foursquare check-ins. But since I am so new to it, I would like to hear from the y’all. What do you think is the proper way for someone to use Foursquare?
Do you just share your check-ins with Foursquare friends? Or do you also update Facebook and Twitter with your check-ins? And what about daily check-ins? Is it gauche to check into your office every day? Is there some mobile app that would give me better control over what check-ins are shared? Let me know, please!
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