subject: Foursquare [print this page] According to the Wikipedia page saved at TinkrBox, a social video/website bookmarking site, foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices and also a game. Users would check in at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application. By doing so, users would be rewarded. A blippr website also commented that foursquare helps the user to meet up with friends, earn points and unlock badges for discovering new places, doing new things and meeting new people.
What is special about foursquare is that the rewards are real. For example, just by checking into Ben & Jerrys ice cream would entitle the user to a 3 scoop coop for just $3, or if the user is the 10th person to check in at Modmarket in Boulder, CO, the user would get a free flatbread pizza. Business owners can quickly and easily post a deal or reward at checkindeals.com, where users can then search locate checkin deals and rewards that are nearby.
With this nature, foursquare naturally comes with some risk. According to an article, How I became a Foursqare cyberstalker, bookmarked at Tinkrbox, people put way too much information online, and in foursquares case, stranger can easily stalk someone using foursquare. A coding expert called Jesper Andersen managed to capture the details of 875,000 check-ins in San Francisco, allowing him to monitor who had been checking-in to any location, regardless of users privacy settings.
Even though foursquare has its benefits, one must also be fully aware of what the potential risks it might involve.
