Wide Rule

I think it’s time to go a little Amy Vanderbilt on Foursquare.

I know that a service has hit the big time the moment that any application that could be construed as social or fun is available on my blackberry.  Having an iPhone or Droid app means your trendy – having a BlackBerry app says you mean business.

Don’t be public if you don’t want company

Romantic dinners are not the time to update your foursquare friends as to your whereabouts. 

I will reiterate this because it is important.

Do not tell your geolocation friends where you and the person possibly sleeping with you are having an evening alone. 

If you need to get your points for a location, just set your foursquare update to be hidden from friends. It isn’t hard.

If you tell people you’re at bar/restaurant, expect your friends to want to join you.  You are saying “hey, I’m here, you can come play with me!”  Friends want to come play with you and if they’re close by, they probably will!

If they don’t want to join you, you might just be a jerk.

Situations to set your status to hidden:

• dates
• job interviews
• family dinners
• drinking alone

Spamming twitter/Facebook is annoying

This is true for everything that has the ability to auto-update your feeds.

I want to hear what you think, not what game you’re playing or song you like.  If I wanted to know these things, I would follow those feeds directly.  I follow you on twitter or Facebook because I’m interested in your thoughts, hopes, dreams and bitching.  If I have to deal with your auto-update, I feel like I’m dating someone where all I get is their answering machine.

I think it’s fun if you post about when you’re a Mayor – that’s part of the game.  It also allows me to make fun of people who are Mayors of their job or home.

Don’t check-in at your place of employment

You have to go to work.  You should be there everyday. Being Mayor of where you work isn’t cool.

Unless you are a prostitute, your home should not be a check-in

Are you really checking in at home every night? Did you really put your address on foursquare as a place where everyone can check-in?

This is a bad idea for a lot of personal reasons.

Geolocation apps are a meet-up tools. Do you want random people meeting up for your family dinner?

This is connected to you. You post about video games, gadgets, life style choices – you have a PS3? Well someone is going to check-in at your house and steal your stuff.

Foursquare is a “where am I patronizing” application – that’s why there is a Mayor and Tip system.  Unless you are selling (or giving away) something out of your house then you do not have patrons.  As much as I’m sure you’d like to see who the Mayor of your house is when you’re out of town, but that’s between you and your wife/husband/dog.

If you are a prostitute, this still might not be a good idea.