Wednesday, August 04, 2010

How Foursquare Is Used

I've completed gathering data for my Foursquare study, so now I'm trying to find some interesting conclusions.

From this research, I have put together a list of various activities that users are doing on Foursquare.

(The list is in alphabetical order as I did not want to imply any sort of hierarchy or frequency.)
  1. Achieve sense of vindication or justice
  2. Advise or warn others
  3. Communicate or coordinate with friends
  4. Compare socially (to friends and/or to community)
  5. Compete against friends and/or strangers
  6. Connect with new people
  7. Entertain or distract self
  8. Express thoughts or experiences
  9. Find deals
  10. Find location by type (e.g. a suitable restaurant)
  11. Find specific location
  12. Find specific location details
  13. Inform decision-making / Receive recommendations
  14. Learn about people or places
  15. Maintain relationships
  16. Mine data for business
  17. Project status / Perform identity
  18. Promote business or self
  19. Receive recognition
  20. Record personal history
  21. Satisfy curiosity
  22. Speak out or advocate (e.g. for an issue)
  23. Understand the application (for novelty or business)
This list is not complete, so please feel free to add any others.

2 comments:

Julio Preuss said...

Hey, I have just realized you are my main competition for iSchool-related mayorships! I have been using 4sq a lot and eventually Gowalla too, as their georeferenced approach really interest me and the gaming elements are also related to my background. Unfortunately, both pieces I wrote about them are in Portuguese...

Glen Farrelly said...

Hi Julio
I noticed I lost all my Foursquare iSchool mayorships to you. Foursquare does not like my BlackBerry firewall. If I turn my firewall on, it crashes my entire BlackBerry (have to reboot by taking the battery out). So I have avoided Foursquare lately as it isn't worth the security vulnerability and frankly I'm starting to get bored by it. I stopped checking into my regular boring places (like fast-food and stores) and have mostly been using it when I want to share my location with my network. I have noticed lately that more deals are being offered but not yet enough to justify my regular usage.

I'd love to hear more about your research as it sounds really interesting.