Wanna play some Foursquare?

Image by 6S via Flickr

By the time that "to tweet" became a verb that the media tried to fit in whenever possible, I still had no idea what Twitter even was. Now that Foursquare has been unilaterally dubbed the "next Twitter" and "the new Facebook killer", I have decided to arrive to the fad early.

Assuming you have Android, Blackberry, or iPhone, you can download the app and join in on the fun. The premise? Not tweeting what's on your mind, but broadcasting where you are. As you go about your life, you "check-in" at your real world location. Your friends can see where you have checked in, creating opportunities to meet-up if your friend happens to be shopping or hanging out in the same part of town as you.

When you sign up, you can search your Facebook, Twitter, or email contacts to find friends who are already using Foursquare. I did so. I found no one. Being ahead of the curve? Success.

Nevertheless, I have been able to enjoy Foursquare. That's because Foursquare is part-social tool, part-game. Checking into a venue earn points.  Checking into a particular venue more than anyone else will make you mayor. Unlike other, ignored geo-location tools (Google Latitude, anyone?), these simple gimmicks will give people reason to stick with Foursquare long enough for a user base to accumulate. Once it has the user base (once you AND all your friends are using Foursquare), it will be a service we all love.

So I encourage you to give Foursquare a shot. Go to foursquare.com to sign-up.  I'm already addicted. You will be too.

P.S. I am the mayor of the Kenmore Classroom Building at BU.  If we ever bump into each other there, I expect you to address me as "your highness".

About Foursquare:

• Foursquare's Growth Not Slowing Down: 725,000 Users, 22 Million Checkins (mashable.com)
• Foursquare gears up to challenge the big guns (v3.co.uk)