Stand By for a Foursquare Superuser
November 25th, 2009 |
“Stand by for a fighter pilot,” Robert Duvall’s character, Lt. Col. “Bull” Meechum, declares as he enters the room in the movie The Great Santini. And are those of us risking our lives every day on the social media front lines any less deserving of respect?
Perhaps it doesn’t deserve the status of a combat fighter pilot, but Foursquare has upgraded me to “Superuser” status, which means:
“you gain the ability to edit our venue database (fixing incorrect addresses, suggesting duplicate venues, marking places as “closed”, matching venues with their Twitter accounts). In the future, you may unlock additional Superuser powers that let you merge venues and (ah, someday!) create new badges.”
I have to admit that I was excited about this. The creators of Foursquare are tapping into basic human behavior. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs describes a theory of human needs which include “Belonginess” and “Esteem.” Foursquare plays to both of these, and many others. It’s prestigious (in a trivial way) to be the “Mayor” of a location. Each “Badge” collected along the way creates a sense of accomplishment. Every new user blazes a path visible to the next wave of users.
Foursquare takes the dynamics of social networking — things like trust, common interests and authenticity — and adds these other dimensions of esteem, belongingness, etc. to create a complex but highly compelling environment. It may not be as exciting as the life of a fighter pilot, but Foursquare is clever and addicting.
Tags: Foursquare, Superuser
| Sphere This |
Sure it is ‘clever’ & ‘addicting’ but do people actually use it as a location sharing tool? I am starting to feel like these mayoral battles between users back-and-forth daily are becoming a bit overrated.. what happens when I actually WANT to find somewhere nearby that I can enjoy or trust? Just because people are fighting over the mayorship at a given place surely doesn’t imply it is any good to me?
It is a tough juxtaposition, but for now I’m sticking with Rummble - http://www.rummble.com -as my location based service of preference.. mainly because it has no city limits and makes my life a lot easier when I’m in need of a cool place to go.
Comment by Cait — November 26, 2009 @ 3:39 am
Hi Cait,
I appreciate your comment but ask that company representatives disclose their affiliations on my blog. It helps users put these kinds of comment into context. (Cait does marketing for Rummble.)
http://twitter.com/Cait_Tierney
Cheers,
Joel
Comment by joel — November 26, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
Nicely put, Joel.
Comment by Erik — November 27, 2009 @ 11:37 pm
[...] pas si facile pour associer un commerce avec un compte Twitter. Comme il est expliqué sur cet article de Socialized, il faut accéder au rang de SuperUser avant de se faire accorder les droits éditoriaux requis. Le [...]
Pingback by Comment lister le compte Twitter d’un commerce? | TwitteRadar — December 1, 2009 @ 2:59 am
Joel, you continue to amaze me with your ability to handle fact, sarcasm, tact and thinking outside the box in social media, virtually and in reality.
Foursquare has some issues to work out technically that are beyond my knowledge. The Don’t Stop Believing badge is what keeps me loosely affiliated with the application.
How does Faith apply to social media apps that do not clarify how to obtain a Don’t Stop Believing Badge?
Comment by Cristinella — December 27, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
Good catch, Joel! As for me, I am curious to see how FourSquare will evolve as we move from 2009 into 2010! I am thrilled to see a solid WebOS app in beta already and some other additions. I do not fully understand all of the features yet, but I am anxious to see how things run when everything is said and done and more users (and locations) are on FourSquare!
Comment by Dwayne Kilbourne — January 3, 2010 @ 7:10 pm