Foursquare finds its place among tech fans
From his seat inside Impero Coffee Roasters, Jon Myers holds a pretty swanky title.
He's the mayor.
But the alias involves no paycheck, no power and certainly no ceremonial sash. (It earns a free beverage once in a while, though).
What is does mean is that the 37-year-old game-design entrepreneur has visited the Short North coffee shop more often than any other customer who uses Foursquare, a new social-networking application aimed at tracking and meeting others via Global Positioning System software.
With a few taps on his
"This time next year," Myers said, "Foursquare will be the darling of tech media."
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, which put a premium on what a user is doing or thinking, Foursquare centers on where a user is.
(We know, we know: You've just mastered tweeting, and you're finally past the fact that Grandma likes your status updates. Stay with us, though.)
Users who add others can then follow their self-guided whereabouts -- who's currently "checked in" at the neighborhood bar, for example; who's the mayor of Kroger in Gahanna (There is one: Kelly M.); or who has frequented a favorite pizzeria.
The more a user goes out -- and, in turn, checks in to confirm visits -- the more points he or she earns. Points translate into "badges" based on various levels of patronage (three visits in a week to the same place earn a "Local" badge; hitting the bars four consecutive nights yields a "Bender" designation).
That concept -- real-life socializing paired with online gaming -- has become second nature (and in terms of personal privacy, of little apparent concern) to the smart-phone generation.
Although early financial support from high-profile tech investors allowed Foursquare to gain credibility, other location-based services are vying for attention: Gowalla, which has a scavenger-hunt-style component; Google Latitude, an application that can pinpoint others using Google Maps software; and Brightkite, which in April was acquired by the business-networking site LinkedIn.
Fans of Foursquare seem taken with its point-and-badge system.
"My best friend and I use it as a fun little competition -- to see who can be the biggest hipster," said Jen Killius, 26, a state worker who lives in Harrison West. (She's the mayor of Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace and other trendy spots).
"I play it, but I'm not really sure why," Killius said. "It's pretty stalker-ish."
Foursquare was unveiled in March at South by Southwest, a yearly music festival in Austin, Texas, that has become a prime gathering for the tech world's celebrities and zealous early adopters.
Once available only in major urban areas, the application expanded recently to other populous cities, including Columbus. And this week, Foursquare went global.
The service has about 200,000 users since the expansion, said Dennis Crowley, one of Foursquare's New York-based founders.
"It's the way all my friends have been making plans," said Crowley, 33. "We just go and check the phone. We've been living in the future a little bit."
To date, Crowley said, about 500 businesses worldwide have embraced Foursquare to reward customer fidelity.
The Tasti-D-Lite yogurt chain in New York has offered 99-cent servings to Foursquare loyalists. A hotel in Amsterdam raffles off free overnight stays. At the Marsh Cafe in San Francisco, the mayor drinks free.
Retailers and restaurants can even program discounts to appear on a user's phone screen after check-in.
Such promotions will prevail in 2010, said Dan Shust, director of emerging media for Resource Interactive, a digital-marketing company in the Arena District.
"The assumption was people didn't want businesses or brands in their social space -- that's not true," said Shust, 45. "It's breaking down a wall."
In Columbus, though, Foursquare is still trying to attract users as well as businesses to cater to them.
BalletMet offers Foursquare users a complimentary "MetPass" (a voucher for 50 percent off two seats all season long -- a $20 value) for checking in at the dance company's Near East Side headquarters on Mount Vernon Avenue.
But there have been no takers, said marketing manager Matt Holsinger.
Impero, in the Short North, offers a free coffee on a Foursquare user's eighth visit. (Just show the barista your phone.)
And Myers is trying to persuade business partner Chuck Hootman to offer a Foursquare deal at Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails, a Downtown restaurant that Hootman co-owns.
The application, meanwhile, has other benefits.
Because users can add "tips" to a Foursquare page regarding a business, a new patron can get the scoop on a specialty cocktail or recommended entree before seeing a menu -- or even being seated.
The service proved useful to Odes Roberts, who logged on to Foursquare during a trip to Washington, D.C., choosing nightlife and food options based on a mapped trail of data left by others.
Closer to home, Foursquare has allowed the Short North resident to know when friends were dining in the same Columbus restaurants.
"You want to find the new places people are talking about," said Roberts, 24. "It's a way to explore your neighborhood and get the most out of it."
posted by Ben Blanquera at
6:00 AM
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