Mayor McCheese Doesn't Rule Mickey D's; I Do. Foursquare Said So.

Hold on -- I gotta check in.

I love Foursquare. It's the closest thing to a videogame addiction I've had since I met the Ms. Pac-Man machine in my youth.  Foursquare is part competition, part fun guide, part marketing tool. You 'check in' at locations via your cell phone. How? Your phone's GPS tells the Foursquare app where your location is.

You also have a choice of letting your friends see your location or you can go 'Off the Grid' and uncheck the 'show your friends' box. Now no one knows you're trolling the 8 Mile and Woodward corridor for a lady-of-the-night, and your stalkers have to work that much harder at finding you.

Foursquare users can earn badges by checking into certain places. For example, after five 'check ins' to a Starbucks one can earn a 'Barrista Badge' or by 'checking in' to a certin number of bars in one night one can earn a 'Crunked Badge.' Then there are Mayorships. Simply check into a venue the most times and you've become the Mayor (I currently hold 19 Mayorships including 2 bars, a tanning salon, a Mc Donalds, & a Tim Hortons. And of course where I live.)

Mayorships are a hot competition among some groups of friends. Hell, my cousin has to fight for not only the Mayorship of  'The Rec Bowl's Secret Basement Shitter' but his friends gleefully keep after the crown for 'Kotila's Crapper' at his house. Poor dude.

Then there are the 'Fauxsquares'. Those are douchebags who try to be the Mayor of everything and 'check in' at places they aren't at. This one dude was doing just that and it so happened that 2 of the places he was perpatrating were the 2 bars I represent--and he was checking in when the place wasn't even open. I may be a nerd for busting him out, but how big a douche is he for even doing it in the first place? Please...

Anyhoo, businesses can utilize Foursquare for marketing by encouraging users to 'check in' to their venue. This does a few things. 1-It is showing their friends where they are (free real time marketing). 2-If they have it linked to Twitter or Facebook it shows up in their newsfeed (and usually these social butterflies do because they think everyone wants to know every facet of their highly interesting lives) (oh, more free real time marketing to a now bigger audience). 3-Everyone likes something for nothing, so if you offer a free coffee or soft drink, 1/2 off an entree, a percentage off a service just for checking in it's like a coupon without spending $800 for a Valpak circular. Plus repeat customers are a nice commodity.

If you check out http://www.foursquare.com/ , you can get a buttload of information: what badges you can earn, what big name places are offering specials (Chili's give free chips and salsa for checking in & there's a TON more places offering cool stuff), and more on the hows.

As for the whys, speaking for myself, well I think everyone wants to know every facet of this social butterfly's highly interesting life. And that 'Socialite Badge' is just one check in out of my reach...