The French author, Michel Houellebecq, published a novel a few years ago – at a time when Facebook had not been the international sensation it has become, when Twitter did not exist, and when the social web was still new enough and at the same time intriguing enough to loom with mystery and possibilities – and in this novel, The Possibility of an Island, a future society is depicted in which generations of clones live their lives in complete individual isolation, communicating with each other from stationary and remote locations through computers only. All human interaction, in this fictional future, occurs digitally, and I confess that I did not find the scenario in the least bit implausible, or even particularly ominous, seeing the Facebook phenomenon give rise to 350 million “friends” and Twitter to legions of “followers.” Nevertheless, I have not tuned out the predictions made in this novel, and I have ever since kept a sort of watch, out of the corner of my eye, for trends in media that would take us further and further in the direction described. With this by way of background, I really like what some of the new “check-in” location-based mobile services, such as Foursquare and others, are doing.
I had read up about Foursquare and GoWalla in industry blogs, but I did not see the point at all. Another stupid little game, another app to pass the time with, I thought, and without a revenue model. As GoWalla is only available on the iPhone, and as Foursquare was until recently more or less the same way, I was a Blackberry outsider and all I could do was read about the experience. This changed a few days ago when Foursquare launched its Blackberry mobile app to the broad market, and I was for the first time able to see for myself what the excitement is all about. And I tell you, I like it. I like it very much.
I’m sure there are aspects of the Foursquare experience that I may not ever take seriously, such as the badges and mayorships of a game that is simple and silly. Until couponing or other e-commerce opportunities are widely introduced, there is only the game’s incentive to pay attention to such stuff. What I like about the Foursquare platform, what I find sort of touching, is the idea of checking into physical locations, with physical addresses – from diners to office buildings to drugstores to museums, it doesn’t matter – in a way that on one level resembles web browsing, and the premise of a web service that encourages its users to be, as much as possible, outside.
Now, twenty years ago, Foursquare would have been pointless. “Just go outside,” we would have argued, why do you need to “have an app for that?” But we are the Internet generation, the social web generation, with apps for everything, and in this context Foursquare not only makes sense but is a welcome addition. Each time we check into a locale, our visit is catalogued, much like an online browsing history is a catalogue of all the virtual places we visit. And when we do this checking in – here is an added touch that I really love – the service prompts us to contact our friends to let them know we have arrived, which is called to shout – not to tweet, like some frail bird in a forest, as is suggested by that other communication platform – but shout, like a person to other people. We should expect to hear a whole mess of shouting as Foursquare’s user base grows.
It is said that the Foursquare platform is addictive, and since I’ve only been on it for two days or so, I can’t clinically vouch. I kind of hope that it is, and I hope that its popularity takes off. If you have read Houellebecq, you will understand why I say this. If you have not read Houellebecq, go ahead, it won’t kill you.
