Foursquare Hints at the Value in Mobile Social Networks
Friday, April 24th, 2009
Over the last few months we at UC have been testing Foursquare, a mobile social network that launched at SXSWi in March. Foursquare is the latest in mobile social networking, following in the vein of Dodgeball (created by the same founders years earlier), Loopt, Brightkite, and many others. Before Foursquare, I had not yet played with a mobile social network; rather, I had been satisfied with signing on to Facebook via my phone to keep up on what my friends are doing. As I’ve spent some time with Foursquare, however, it’s become more clear to me how useful and valuable mobile-specific features are. This doesn’t necessarily mean the social network features have to be designed for the phone, rather the content has to leverage and contribute to the power of movement and location.
To be clear, I’m not evaluating foursquare itself. It’s certainly in it’s infancy, and unless you’re on an iPhone using their iPhone app (I have an Android phone), it relies on a WAP site that is not all that impressive. However, the basic elements that are being developed are engaging, addictive, and very useful. (more…)
Tags: android, brightkite, foursquare, iphone, loopt, mobile social networking, yelp
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