Is Foursquare Sustainable?
April 15, 2010 | Written by Sang Jung
Gotta Catch ’Em All! This well known mantra of the Pokémon fanatic became fever pitch in the late 1990s as legions of U.S children delved into their Pokémon Nintendo Gameboys to travel to far away islands and battle different Pokémon. Months were spent trying to collect badges and all 300+ Pokémons, which were in a sense badges themselves.
Fast forward to today, and we know that Pokémon was pretty much a fad—a sorry part of our history like the Macarena. When ex-Pokémon fiends are pressured to talk about their Poké past, most offer a sheepish grin and say “It was the thing to do back then”.
Well the thing to do nowadays is to collect a whole new set of badges. Foursquare badges. And instead of children, it’s adults that are clamoring to Catch’Em All! These badges instead of being gained by battling creatures are earned through usually mundane task: To gain the Barista Badge…go to Starbucks. Get the Gym Rat Badge…by going to the Gym… a lot.
My main question on all this excitement over Foursquare is: Is Foursquare sustainable? Specifically, is their “badge as a reward” system sustainable?
History says no.
Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Ho! and any other highly structured games that involved collecting badges, etc. enjoyed tremendous engagement and buzz, but eventually went away like the dinosaurs.
So how long will it take for Foursquare fanatics to lose interest in collecting badges? All it takes is for one person to realize the cost-benefit analysis of hoofing it to a location for a jpeg.
Tags: foursquare, foursquare badges, reward system
Comments (1)
April 15th, 2010 at 4:51 pm Posted by PM
Sang – Good post. Solid observations. I think any “collecting fad” lasts 3 to 9 months. If there are too many variables (e.g. 300 Pokemons) or an unlimited amount (Foursquare) then people will get frustrated, gradually fade out and move to the next “big” thing. Maybe not collecting, but something else. (Are friend collectors – Facebook, LinkedIn getting bored or do they join for the other values?)
To me, Foursquare is a vehicle of the needy. Clamoring that you are in a specific spot for prestige or cache. Really? You are there? WOW! (The reality is we all have to be somewhere ALL the time).
Foursquare is a great tool for burglars. Single? Oh, you are in Aruba this week and your Facebook and Twitter page corroborate that you live in Osh Kosh. Hmmmm…Time for a break-in.
(NOTE: The burglars just collected some points)
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