By this time, I'm pretty much used to Foursquare. I have a variety of different badges and mayorships and I'm constantly checking in for the different discounts (I've actually experienced that Foursquare is the only app - even better than smarphone apps actually for coupons - where I actually got money off with no strings attached!) and basically to keep my mayorships.
Because of the points system of Foursquare, where you only get 1 point for going to a venue you already have been, I was staggering on the leader board (vs. the first weeks where I was at least on the top three) – I’ve only been checking into places I always go to like class buildings and my home. So, I was excited to go to Florida for spring break to check into different places. Apart from the exciting fact that I earned the jetsetter badge (for checking into different airports and across many miles), I was able to check in on the plane (whatever feet above the air) using Delta’s wireless service on the flight. Like the mayorships, these badges are another reason I suddenly got hooked to Foursquare because it is in a weird way rewarding to earn these badges! Although some are really straight-forward in ways to earn them, there are certain badges that are only there if you do certain things spontaneously. Also, I used Foursquare to find different spots in Florida (where I was not familiar) using their lists features, which was also easy to find and use, and actually ordered something off of the menu that someone put up as a tip!
It also got me to think about what we learned in lecture about what checking in to different places means for defining who we are. These location services are kind of like Facebook (and even moreso that you can actually connect your Facebook/Twitter accounts to it), in that when I'm checking into a club, I'm saying to my friends and anyone who can see my profile that I'm a spontaneous fun person. When I'm checking into a library, I'm saying that I'm a studious college student - don't bother me. And so on. So, it really got me to think, especially after my first night of randomly checking into places that I wasn't actually physically present in, if you guys would actually be willing to check into different places you weren't actual there: to clarify, would you check into a restaurant that you could never afford just to establish that you are a high class person? Would that be problematic in any way? I'm really interested to hear about identity building, because it kind of reminds me of an avatar in a sense. And, plus, I've noticed that there were certain places I couldn't wait to check into and other places I'd rather not.
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