Besides Facebook, Twitter is becoming the more dominant social networking site. But soon that may all change. I recently read in a New York Times article about a growing site called "Foursquare". This site has yet become popular but it fills in the missing gaps that Twitter leaves out. Foursquare allows people to really know where their friends are they can stop by and say "hi". Now I don't know why anyone would want to do this...but I can see people following this fad. I however, would find it creepy and I don't feel like I need a site to tell my friends where I am. If I want them to know where I am, then I would have already invited them to come. But Foursquare is used to INVITE them instead. People who use this site don't text or call their friends to come out to eat anymore. They look online and see if their friends are local to meet up with. It seems like soon one day we don't even know what our friend's voice sounds like....whats next? We have lunch on a virtual site? People are becoming less and less present on Earth and more and more present in a virtual world...we are all so disconnected from what use to be reality. We are recreating new ways of socializing...more convenient ways that come with many risks.
Foursquare though, does have some good things about it. Its a site that actually motivates people to leave their homes and go out to places and do things. Because unlike any other social networking site this site is a game too. If your someone who goes to the same Starbucks everyday and are part of Foursquare you could actually be the mayor of Starbucks. You win awards for the amount of times you go somewhere. People compete with their friends to be the mayor of a location and feel threatened when they're dethrone from their seat. So this makes people want to keep going out to their favorite places.
Advertisers have picked up already, "For a small business with a limited advertising budget, it’s a great way to promote ourselves,” said Olivia O’Neal, owner of Sugar Mama’s. The shop offers Foursquare mayors a free cup of coffee each time they come in, and regular patrons receive their 10th cupcake free. “There are about 67 people currently working on those offers, and for a small family-owned business like ours, that’s a really big number,” Ms. O’Neal said."
I don't know if I'll ever join this site, but I feel like this is the new trend in our culture and its somewhat scary.
Foursquare though, does have some good things about it. Its a site that actually motivates people to leave their homes and go out to places and do things. Because unlike any other social networking site this site is a game too. If your someone who goes to the same Starbucks everyday and are part of Foursquare you could actually be the mayor of Starbucks. You win awards for the amount of times you go somewhere. People compete with their friends to be the mayor of a location and feel threatened when they're dethrone from their seat. So this makes people want to keep going out to their favorite places.
Advertisers have picked up already, "For a small business with a limited advertising budget, it’s a great way to promote ourselves,” said Olivia O’Neal, owner of Sugar Mama’s. The shop offers Foursquare mayors a free cup of coffee each time they come in, and regular patrons receive their 10th cupcake free. “There are about 67 people currently working on those offers, and for a small family-owned business like ours, that’s a really big number,” Ms. O’Neal said."
I don't know if I'll ever join this site, but I feel like this is the new trend in our culture and its somewhat scary.
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