It’s been almost three years since I wrote about “Foursquare fatigue“…..yet I confess I’m still using Foursquare just as much as ever. Why? I honestly have no idea. Habit, I suppose. Competition with my husband over which of us will be mayor of the places we frequent together. Vain hope that one of these years either AMC Theaters or Regal Theaters will recognize how frequently I go to the movies (answer: at least once a week, usually twice) and bestow on me a free lifetime pass. Because even after using Foursquare all this time, I can count on I think one finger the number of free or discount things I’ve gotten out of the deal: a free medium coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts. Once. That’s it.
So why do I keep checking in? Who knows. Do I think that Foursquare will ever up the game and make it worth users’ while to check in places? Maybe. And I’m not talking about stuff like attaching my Amex card to my Foursquare account–thanks but I’ve already had my identity stolen once this year and had to switch credit cards; I’m not interested in the promise of a statement credit of $2 30 days after a transaction. But a few things they’ve added in the past year or so give me hope:
- Connected apps like After Credits, which tells you if there’s something cool in the credits after a movie ends, or Eat This, Not That, which tells you about healthy menu options at the place you’ve checked in. Also Lanyrd looks cool for events, but given that most conferences still don’t even use Twitter, I doubt they’ll be using Foursquare much anytime soon.
- The ability to check in to a specific movie at a theater as opposed to just the theater. Could be very cool, especially if something like Letterboxd became a connected app so Foursquare checkins and Letterboxd movie diary entries could be synced.
Ok, those are the only things I can think of….but I suppose it’s enough to keep me checking in for a while longer.
If you use Foursquare, what are the reasons you keep using it? Or did you use it in the past but give up on it?
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