Here Comes the Pun

soupsoup:

“Isn’t it interesting that Tumblr and FourSquare are NYC’s major contributions to social software in the past couple years?”

Rex Sorgatz - Mediaite Interview (via msg)

(via dpstyles)

Hmm.. in this scenario, I think that “NewYorkWare” and “this idea is too early” are kind of the same thing. Dodgeball was way too early… not just in the “we all didn’t have smartphones” type of way, but it was pre-Twitter - before Twitter and Faceook taught us the benefit of oversharing. These days, we all Get It that life is more interesting when I am anciently aware of what my 100 best friends are doing all the time. And back in 2004 when we were able to convince our 100 best friends to check-in every time they went something interesting, we were able to see a little bit of the future in a way that other folks outside our circle were not.

The fact that people find foursquare more interesting than dodgeball is not because the places where foursquare is gaining traction have become more like New York the city, but because the people that live those places have since learned to use social media in the way that our group of New Yorker friends were back in 2004.

Totally agree.

But we can all also probably agree that FourSquare thrives on population density — more so than any social app, ever. That’s why it was dubbed NewYorkWare: it functions best in spaces with density. (Yes, Alice, I know it’s popular in SF also, but NewYorkSanFranciscoWare just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

But if FourSquare is going to have true cross-over success, it needs to make headway in places like Seattle and Miami and Pittsburgh. I was just in Seattle a couple weeks ago. While out drinking with some hipster nerds, I kept hearing that the app just doesn’t apply to the way people interact in the city. “Maybe,” I said. “But I don’t think you’ve found all the ways it has value yet.”

I think that’s the most interesting quality of FourSquare: its value keeps revealing itself as the layers are pealed off. At first, people were attracted to the game component (badges); then the spontaneous local gatherings (crowd generation); then it was awards (mayorships). And right now, for me, it’s the stuff that’s being done with historical data (heat maps, etc.). I would absolutely LOVE to have a easily retrievable data trail of where exactly I was on November 9, 1989 or September 11, 2001. Foursquare has essentially become my diary.

Twitter had a similar success pattern. I remember going to the main public timeline on Twitter and knowing 80% of the people. But back then, Twitter was used for a very particular purpose, and by a very defined set of people. Twitter obviously found different ways to be relevant to different people.

I am writing this from Napoleon, North Dakota (pop. 800), where I am colonizing the one grocery store and two bars with my check-ins. It seems difficult to imagine FourSquare having value here, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it finds a way.

Merry X-mas!

(via fimoculous)

Same thing here in rural southwestern Rhode Island. I long for the day when I get the e-mail that says, “you’ve just been ousted as the mayor of West’s Bakery on foursquare!” It may be years from now. It may never happen.