Facebook Takes On FourSquare

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook Places is similar to FourSquare. You can go to places, 'check-in' so your friends know you're there, rate them, comment on them, and generally spew your opinions all over the internet as fast as your fingers can hit the keys. It's an obvious attempt by the company to muscle in on FourSquare's block, casting its influence ever further over us all." Now the question is, who at FourSquare turned down the offer, and how badly are they crapping their pants?

Comments

@Facebook

[doroshjt]

@Facebook has just ousted @Foursquare as the mayor of useless crap.

Four Square

[ojintoad]

If Facebook takes over an app I never heard of or ever will use, and some blogger tries to tenuously relate it to the totalitarian state taking over our lives, and a tree falls on a mime in the woods, and I go on using email and ignoring Facebook like I know so many other people do, do I care?

Re:Four Square

[e065c8515d206cb0e190]

You cared enough to comment on it apparently.

Re:Four Square

[BStroms]

Facebook has its uses. Especially for those with a large family living all over the country. It's an efficient way to keep up with what's going on in their lives. Other than the occasional snide comment made in response to someone else's post, that's really all I use it for. Granted being a typical slashdot user, there's nothing interesting enough in my life to post in the first place (even if that doesn't stop most other people.)

Still as much of a pain as it is to block all the annoying features of facebook, it becomes a useful tool in the end.

Re:Four Square

[SnowDog74]

I listen to bands so obscure they haven't been formed yet.

Re:Four Square

[Yvan256]

Someone should totally open up a bar for programmers. Just call it the Progress Bar.

Re:Four Square

[KarrdeSW]

Someone should totally open up a bar for programmers. Just call it the Progress Bar.

That's more like a bar for the IT workers that install software on corporate computers all day.

All the cool programmers drink at the Foo Bar

Re:Four Square

[Americano]

As someone who ostensibly cares about technology, being here on Slashdot, why would you not be interested in hearing about geolocation applications, what they can do, and why people are using them?

Is it that you're "too cool" for anything that might involve (or even *EASE*, for those of us who are a bit awkward) social interaction, even if it is one of the more interesting recent developments in consumer tech? Take a look at all of the "Augmented Reality" type apps out there, and tell me there's not some interesting technological potential in them. The idea that you can have a device in your pocket, pull it out, and within 30 seconds be looking for "cool shit to do near where I'm standing," is amazing, because if it's built up enough to have data, you're going to start seeing more and more of the cool local shit that never gets much advertising, but is still really cool to experience - think little local restaurants that don't advertise, but have a rabid local following - wouldn't it be neat to be able to find those places easily, no matter where you are, instead of another bland steak at Friday's, because "Well, I recognize the sign, and I don't know this town."

There are obvious privacy and security concerns relevant to these kinds of apps - those are interesting technological challenges. The apps themselves are a really fascinating application of multiple technologies in a novel way. So really, the question is: why would you NOT be interested to hear a bit about the apps, and how they're being used, if you're interested enough in technology to be here reading this stuff?

Re:Four Square

[spuke4000]

Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: It's some obscure number, you've never heard of it.

Re:Four Square

[Xemu]

I have an iPhone 4, I have no bars whereever I go.

Re:Four Square

[SnowDog74]

I had a conversation with a hipster the other day... Keep in mind I grew up in the 70's and 80's:

Hipster: "I had LCD Soundsystem's debut album before they recorded it."

Me: "i liked LCD Soundystem better when they were Gil-Scott Heron."

Him: "I stopped listening to the Arcade Fire years ago."

Me: "I liked Arcade Fire better when they were The Cure."

Him: "I listened to 80's music in the 90's."

Me: "I hated 80's music in the 70's."

Him: "I buy demo tapes on CD and transfer them to vinyl."

Me: "In 1981 I bought a Sony PCM-F1 and recorded digital on VHS."

Him: "I bought a $3000 Mac to run an NES Emulator."

Me: "I hacked my Atari VCS to make international phonecalls."

Him: "My other computer is an Amstrad."

Me: "I sold my Amstrad to some hipster shmuck for 10x what I paid... Hey..."

Him: "Back in the day we only had 8-bit colors."

Me: "Back in my day, we didn't have colors. We had A color... Amber, white or green."

Him: "I watched Ninja Warrior when it was called Sasuke."

Me: "I watched Power Rangers when it was called Voltron."

Him: "I was the first kid on my block to play Mortal Kombat."

Me: "I was the only kid on my block to own "Pac Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia."

Him: "I played the first popular FPS, Wolfenstein 3-D."

Me: "I have Silas Warner's original Wolfenstein... in 2-D."

Him: "I listened to Massive Attack before House made their music popular."

Me: "I listened to Massive Attack when they had lyrics."

Him: "Oh yeah, I buy corduroy pants from the thrift store."

Me: "I gave my corduroy pants from third grade to the thrift store. You're wearing them."

Question about Foursquare

[Pojut]

I know what people do with it, but why do they do it?

Re:Heh!

[Rhaban]

The difference is, on /. we only babble about stuff that matters. It's written on the top of the page, so it must be true.

Easy Answer

[eldavojohn]

I know what people do with it, but why do they do it?

The same could be said of that post you just posted. I know what you do on Slashdot but why do you do it?

And I think the answer is very simple: communication with a nominal reward. People love debate and communication and giving advice and the like. Just because FourSquare focuses on restaurants and eateries doesn't make it any less pointless than our banter and talk of tech here on Slashdot. It simply has a different target market. It might be bigger, it might be smaller but it's something evidently.

"I'm Mayor of the 1st St. Chipotle" vs "I just got a +5 Insightful on this post!" Simple meaningless reward that means something to the user.

Think of it like a game. Personally I think it's worthless but I wouldn't consider myself very keen on the internet if I didn't realize what it does effectively and how it appeals to the users. Of course that means eyeballs and of course Facebook wants their users to lock in and stay. Maybe they'll make a native FourSquare to Facebook to appeal to that market?

Re:Easy Answer

[ihatejobs]

Getting a +5 on slashdot is as simple as posting some mindless drivel and having a bunch of your circlejerking buddies mod it up for you.

It's a pretty rare sight to actually see something Insightful modded as such.