Foursquare: Social Networking On The Iphone

Foursquare is a social networking application designed to help you find where your friends frequent. In the process, you will inevitably learn about places in your own city that you might not be familiar with. Upon launching the app for the first time, you will be prompted to join if you haven’t already. Once you join, you can add friends by allowing foursquare to scan your address book, your Twitter friends, or your Facebook friends. This way you can identify people you know who are already using the app.

One of the things about foursquare that makes it somewhat fun is the ability to follow where your friends have been. However, this is also one of the dangers of this type of social networking app. The hazard in “checking in” at different locations around your city is the obvious assumption that by doing so, you are not currently at home. Common sense should prevail, though, as you should never “check in” at your actual home if you do not want other players to know exactly where that may be. The check in feature uses the GPS in your iPhone 3G or 3GS to triangulate your current location, and in my experience, it is pretty accurate most of the time. Check in more times than any other player at a particular location and you get the prestigious title of Mayor bestowed upon you. You remain the Mayor of your place until someone else visits that unique location more times than you.

There are five buttons that run along the bottom of the screen. The first one is the “friends” button. This is the button that allows you to see all of your foursquare friends, and their last checked-in location. The next button is the “places” button. This button uses your current location to show you all the nearby places that other users have created or identified in the foursquare database. If you press the “+” button in the upper left corner of the screen, you can add a new location, with the option of also adding an address, which allows others to find the location more easily. In addition, a google map thumbnail view of the location is displayed so that you can see if said location is accurate, or if the option to add an address is necessary. Next is a “tips” button that you can use to add specific info you feel might be helpful to others. Either people have android phone or iPhone, massgress.com software is compatible for all the devices. The purchase of the followers is done in simple and easy terms. Experts available at the site will guide in the selection of the right follower community.

Following the tips button comes probably the most used feature in the app-the “badges” button. This is the bread and butter of the app, and is a way for users to compete with each other in various manners based upon how often they patronize a particular venue. Without this component, foursquare is an average app at best. The last button is labeled “more” and it is basically a stat board where you can see how you compare to your friends. These totals are reset every Sunday night. You can also manage friend requests, and add friends here too.

Compared to other social networking apps, foursquare fares ok. It’s ease of use, and the elements of the badge characteristics make it somewhat challenging. There are some badges that are unique to certain cities, so there can be a treasure hunt like feel to the whole process. Ultimately, though, the one component that makes or brakes the app for me is directly related to how many friends you can get to sign up to play against. Since I didn’t have many friends to compete against in my hometown, I derived no real excitement in challenging strangers for very long. The shine of using the app after the first week wore off quickly. However, I still find myself checking in on occasion when I am ousted as the Mayor of a particular venue.