Death finds me on foursquare
March 16th, 2011 |
Foursquare brought me closer to death today. Around 8:15 a.m. I checked in at the Apple Store in Los Gatos, California, and then walked a few doors down and checked in at Great Bear Cafe, where I ordered a mocha.
From across the cafe I heard “Is there a Joel Postman here? You have a phone call.” The young woman behind the counter said, “He says it’s an emergency.” I was a little puzzled since no one knew where I was, at least no one other than everyone on the Internet since I just checked in on foursquare.
I picked up the phone and said “hello,” and the brief conversation went like this:
Caller (with ominous voice): Death can find you anywhere, even at the Great Bear
Me (somewhat less ominous voice): OK
Caller: Go to if I die dot-com
Me: OK. I will. I guess I’ll say thank you then
I went to the web site but I must have misheard as there was nothing of interest there. I’m not sure what this is all about, whether it’s a prank, or part of a marketing stunt. I searched on “death” and “foursquare” on Google and didn’t find any mention of this. Maybe I’ll learn more soon.
Update: I’m fairly certain I was supposed to go to ifidie.org and not ifidie.com, and that this was some kind of PR or marketing stunt. My friend Nick gave me a link to an interesting story last July about foursquare stalking. I consider my experience Wednesday harmless, though I was surprised that someone would contact me in person at the cafe. This sort of breaks the plane we imagine separates us from some of our more distant Internet friends, but which increasingly, does not.
Tags: foursquare
| Sphere This |
When checking in via Foursquare, does it notify the place? I think there is an opt out button for that.
There is an ifidie.org site but its still weird
Comment by miguel — March 16, 2011 @ 10:45 am
I think the point of that website is to highlight our vulnerability to potentially malicious people when we use technology like 4 square. Announcing to the world of strangers our every move. Makes life easy for stalkers and psychopaths. The aim of the phone call and the website is to scare you into taking better care.
Comment by Luci — March 16, 2011 @ 3:36 pm
http://www.ifidie.org/ - was this what they wanted you to look at? perhaps searching great bear there? dunno - *shrug*
Comment by Crescent — March 16, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
The point of the story is that if you see Joel walk into a cafe - run!
Comment by Kurt — March 17, 2011 @ 2:31 am
I heard a similar account from someone else who was called via the phone at the establishment after a check-in. Don’t remember what the message was. Found this at TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/09/foursquare-specials/ a Foursqaure exec describing new services as part of “shock and awe” marketing program.
Shock and awful, I’d call it. Assuming the call was triggered by the check-in why would a merchant want there phone lines used this way? Furthermore wouldn’t it give users pause before checking in if they thought they might be met with that kind of harassment?
Comment by Jim — March 18, 2011 @ 11:06 am
Why on Earth would somebody want to stalk you?! (Insert smiley-faced emoticon HERE.) Are you stalk-worthy?
Comment by Terry Brown — March 18, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
Jim, I agree with you. The phone call turns out to be really annoying to the establishment. The woman behind the counter was reluctant to hand me her cordless phone for fear I would walk out with it, and she wouldn’t have given it to me at all if the caller hadn’t claimed it was an emergency.
Comment by joel — March 18, 2011 @ 1:18 pm
Joel Postman,
Death can catch you anywhere, anytime, even on your blog. go to http://www.ifidie.net before it’s too late.
Comment by Death — March 20, 2011 @ 6:08 pm
Joel,
Now that I’ve had the chance to go back & read the rest of your narrative, I see the whole story here…
Can’t agree with you more - this doesn’t just break the plane of separation, it crashes through one of the “expected” unwritten rule of these platforms: Don’t be a pest. Unfortunately, we’re expecting rational behavior from irrational people.
As the for the weak PR stunt: horrible execution. Hopefully the guy who created ifidie.org didn’t sign up his own site with the service.
I like the title of this post even better than the follow up:)
Comment by Eric Miltsch — March 30, 2011 @ 6:03 am
Can Foursquare be dangerous if you have a stalker (that you are unaware of) who wants to hurt you?…
I was stalked on foursquare. Ultimately, the “stalker” turned out to be harmless, but for a couple days I was a little intimidated. It started when I checked in on forusquare at the Great Bear Cafe in Los Gatos, California. A few minutes later someon…
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