I'm Really Excited About Foursquare

It's hard to stay ahead of the social media curve. Twitter exploded before anyone knew how to really use it. It's still evolving - daily. A lot of social media "experts" believe that the next big thing is going to be Foursquare, and I really hope they are right.

The concept behind Foursquare is simple - it's a location tool. People can "check-in" to places (typically bars and restaurants, but the possibilities are literally endless.) So for example, I can check in to the local Cheesecake Factory, and my friends can check and see that I am there. They may be nearby so we can meet up, or they may want to join. It's a way to connect. In such big cities, I could be at a bar and two doors down is a friend of mine. If we checked in, we would know how close we were to each other and get together. You can share the message through Twitter and Facebook to reach further out to your network.

There are two other exciting things about Foursquare. First, you can add tips for each place to tell other people about. Say you really enjoy the new coffee from Starbucks, you can share that with everyone and recommend it to other people who will be checking in. The other potential for Foursquare is the points system. Users get points for checking-in and become mayors of places if they have the most points. We're starting to see some restaurants reward people who check in - because they are promoting the restaurant. It can build a customer loyalty that we haven't seen before - and extend it into the social realm.

I was one of the 5,000 to receive the Beta Foursquare for BlackBerry application and cannot wait for it to be released publicly. Once it is public I believe it will really take off because BlackBerry's are so popular. Right now it has iPhone and Android support, but by adding BlackBerry application it opens up to a VERY large audience who has been known to be addicted (they're called CrackBerry's for a reason.)

I really see the potential for this new tool and really hope it succeeds, because it can really allow for users to meet and share on a different level than you can get from Twitter and Facebook.