Foursquare – is that 16? lots of tech world hype, not much real world traction
As we all patiently twiddle our thumbs waiting for Facebook to unleash some incredible news about how it’s going to skewer location, and let everyone know just where you’re updating your Facebook status from… This article from back a few months ago provides an interesting little sidelight on the hot topic of location.
And whether the general public give a toss about it.
Foursquare is The Burnin’ Hot name in location services. Trumping competitors, owning the field, turning down an offer from Facebook, getting lots of coverage in the techosphere, it has done pretty well.
However, where it’s not doing so well is in general public perceptions.
I know, Twitter has the same problem and look at it now.. but it is still amusing how much heat and light gets generated by these
Switched website staff went out into Times Square New York and asked Joe public what they knew about Foursquare…. answer – not very much.
“we don’t think we’ve ever seen our subjects as stymied as they were when trying to identify Foursquare. Most simply shrugged their shoulders, and one poor person even thought we were giving them a math quiz. In the end, we were only able to find one urbanite who was able to tell us that Foursquare was a location-based social networking application. (You know, “checking in” to different locations?) Although, even then, he seemed to think that it was better for identifying targets for robbery than actually connecting with people.”
I think we can bet that will all change tonight if Facebook announce a deal with Foursquare.
