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While chatting over lattes with a mate at our favourite café in St Kilda, he pulled the notorious “Facebook Quick Sweep” manoeuvre our generation is increasingly adopting. You know… The mildly annoying tactic where you find yourself in mid-conversation and your mate frantically starts investigating the personal lives of “friends” using smart phone technology. Was our chat really that boring? No. “I’ve checked us in,” he cheerfully interrupts with a cheeky grin.

After clearing more than a baker’s dozen “check-ins” from my Facebook profile, it was time to do some investigating of my own. What exactly is this Foursquare? Foursquare is a location-based social networking application available on smart phone devices. Users check themselves in at venues they have visited for recognition, even rewards. These “check-ins” become available not only on Foursquare’s website, but can be added to the user’s Facebook page. It’s all too similar to the idea of rolling out the red carpet. “I’m here!”

I know, I know. Call me behind the times (because the application has been around for ages), but it’s only recently that the power of this application is beginning to surface. The good, the bad and the ugly are all coming out of the woodwork… and here’s what I mean…

You cannot deny the success of an application that has its own day. New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg announced April 16th 2011 as Foursquare Day in New York City. Over three million “check-ins” were submitted that single day in celebration. Successes like this have gotten the largest to the smallest of businesses thinking of ways to jump on the wagon. Industry leaders like McDonalds and Starbucks have encouraged consumers to “check-in” by offering discounted food and beverages.

So what’s the down side of all this location-based business? Just your privacy… Shea Sylvia, author of the blog “That’s What Shea Said”, knows this all too well. While out to dinner one night, reception approached Shea with a phone call from an unknown party. This “stranger” explained how to find Shea in the restaurant by describing her using only her Facebook profile photo. If this hasn’t given you the goose bumps already, the caller told Shea “You shouldn’t be telling people you are on Foursquare, should you?” and continued to ask her to “hang out”.

Are location based applications, like Foursquare, just another great tool for marketers, and a little too “the call is coming from inside the house” for the rest of us? Is gaining rewards and impressing our friends with all the cool venues we’re frequenting really worth jeopardizing our privacy? It’s all fun and games until you have a creepy stalker joining you for dinner…

I’m turning it over to you. Yes, you… The reader! Comment below to give me your two cents.

Until next time!
The YourOpinion Team