FourSquare next wave

It isn't an apocryphal story: I was a first hand witness to a major Division I BCS level football SID/head office manager say he would never have an email address because that was just a useless fad.

. . . And then the ones that said Twitter.

. . . And just this week, overheard having "no use at all for Facebook."

Add to the list FourSquare. We had a couple of bright young stars at CoSIDA Convention talking up the geolocation service. I'd been playing with it off and on most of the year, picking it over the rival service Gowalla, and noticed a story in The Chronicle regarding the way campus tours were getting unknown graffette. Campus visit prospects were leaving behind brutally honest comments about points on campus.

I've sensed that it will be a better way to do affinity or other checkin type rewards - why force students or others to carry a special card and invest in the scanning and recording infrastructure when FourSquare provides it.

Today, two more indicators that FourSquare as a concept is real.

As I check in at XNA, I get a special alert from one of my FourSquare friends about trying out the dyson hand driers. Huh? That was a comment left by him, and because we are FourSquare friends, it auto pops up. Imagine that social power - we believe our friends and value their opinions more than marketers. What if he left behind a recommendation on a restaurant or service? Suppose at the other end of my trip, he's been there also and said "XYZ bar-be-que rocks" - where do you think I'll think of going?

In this case, XNA might take a moment to assess some of the comments left by FourSquare folks about the airport's services. Those are semipermanent comments.

The second was sitting here and listening to the news that Facebook is getting ready to launch a geolocation check in for mobile. So stores can give you coupons. So friends can find where you are. So you can post your comments about where you are.

The mobile web is becoming more personal each and every day.

Have you claimed all your home sports venues on FourSquare? You better today.