It is the check-in, not the location, that matters most

David Carr of the Wall Street Journal wrote a good article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/media/22carr.html) on geo-social services a couple of days ago. In this article he highlights a point I have tried to make for some time now:

‘“The check-in is bigger than location,” said Yancey Strickler of Kickstarter, a Web site that helps with fund-raising for media products’

Location matters, yes. However, it is the influence you have within your communities to draw attention to certain locations, physical or virtual, where the real potential of these solutions lie. While not everyone understands this point, I do believe Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare, is at least beginning to think in this way based upon our exchange (http://www.govloop.ca/?p=165#comment-24) from a couple of months ago on this and other topics where he noted:

“Truth is, we need better tools for public and private venues. If you want to add your home, car, apt, blog, pool to foursquare that’s great… but we need to do it in a way so that other people don’t see those listings.”

The great news is Foursquare will be helping us get there, at least in some fashion. For now, stop by my blog on Foursquare and check-in. While I can’t offer you any cookies or coupons, I promise, I have some ideas for rewarding future mayors…. Someday.

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