One of my friends is a social media coordinator for a U.S. Senate candidate and has previously worked for a social media campaign coordinating company, and is the only person (not in our class) I know who checks in regularly on Foursquare. He also has his account linked to Twitter, all that jazz. At dinner with a group of friends, including my social media-loving friend, a few of the others started picking on him: "If you go on Twitter right now, you'll see that Josh is at Pei Wei"..."Yeah, Josh, aren't you the mayor of Thundercloud Subs yet? You eat there everyday." And so it went for a few minutes as they picked on him about (only) his check ins. There was no mention of the fact that he suddenly started tweeting (we understand that this is linked to his jobs) or that he tweets ALL THE TIME, often asking us to RT (retweet) links to his boss' website and such (a few of my friends do this. They "get paid for tweeting," as another friend said once). There's something different in the minds of my friends, it seems, about answering "What's happening?" and "Where are you?"
Why is this, do you think? Given, Josh really does check in at Thundercloud Subs on a pretty regular basis, but I think what they were really picking on him about was that he checks in anywhere. Maybe I'm wrong? As for my friends, they're relatively integrated into social networking sites. They nearly all use Twitter regularly for both telling the world what they're up to and to comment on politics (pretty much all of my friends are politically savvy and have worked for campaigns or in the Legislature). For this reason, I was surprised to see them find Foursquare check ins so foreign and laughable.
Do you all think it's really odd to check in everywhere you go? I sort of do, to be honest, but I feel like I shouldn't, as someone who has, in fact, been accused of over-tweeting.
I had heard of Foursquare before, but after reading your paper for peer review I decided to give it a try, and I am liking it so far. I became mayor of my apartment complex pretty quickly and that's what basically got me hooked. I like earning achievements and badges so Foursquare makes it fun to let everyone know where you are.
ReplyDeleteI think we are slowly getting to the point where it is acceptable to be know where everyone is or to be accountable at all times no matter where you are. I think why everybody is making fun of your friend is because they are scared. Last semester, my professor described a magazine cover that used satellites to put personalized photos of each recipients house on the front. This was scrutinized to be an invasion of privacy. I think that knowing where everyone is has a stigma too it, especially from books like 1984 and your friends might be just playing it off.
On the other hand, it may be just silly to update all the time.
@ Nathaniel
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Mr. Mayor
I agree that it's a little odd checking in everywhere I go. But that could be due to my laziness. I remember that when I first started driving, my parents constantly chided me about where I was and where I was going to make sure that I had arrived safely and didn't get in an accident. I didn't mind telling them that I had arrived, but I grew tired of constantly having to make a call or shooting a text.
I guess that I just find it too cumbersome of a task to check in; although I guess the awards and achievements do make it a lot for fun. I wouldn't mind being mayor of my apartment.
I don't think it's any more odd than people who post on FB about what they had for dinner (guilty) or sharing every single picture they've ever taken of their kids. It's just another kind of networking, and I'm sure the badges & whatnot do make it fun (I can't comment on that though, since I don't participate.)
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is fun for me to tease my friends about making it easy for the stalkers to find them. You all are taking the fun out of stalking. :)
I've never used Foursquare, but I've heard of it. I'm admittedly too paranoid to post information about my location all of the time. Just as we're taking advantage of new social media tools, crooks, thieves, and rapists (gasp!) are too. I'm sure we've all heard news of a burglar robbing a home knowing the owners weren't home because of Facebook or Twitter. The first time you come across a story like that it shocks you, but part of modern literacy is recognizing the publicity of our online actions. Foursquare sounds like fun, but until they find a way to accommodate people like me who want some sense of privacy, I'm not becoming mayor of anything.
ReplyDeleteIt's really strange that we can commodify and socialize even the experience of doing stuff we really need to do; I can understand checking in at a movie theater – maybe someone else you know is there! But where I worked in San Antonio, at the Apple Store in North Star mall, there was one employee who flaunted his Apple Store mayorship, which was a legitimately cool prize I suppose... If he didn't have the fortune of checking in literally every time he came into work. The overshare of information doesn't necessarily bother me by any means (I can just not check it if I don't care), but it almost feels like cheating. It seems as though there needs to be a practicality threshold in place: you can only check in if you're actually doing something socially important or noteworthy.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do find it a little odd to check-in everywhere. In fact, this past Friday I went out to lunch with my coworkers during our break. Then, when I returned to my desk and logged into FB (yes, I logged into FB while working), I found out I had been checked-in by one of the girls. This made me think, "wow, not only did people on FB find out where I am, but I had no control over it." I think checking-in should be a matter of choice. If people are ok with having everyone know where they are, at any point in time, I think it is fine - as long as they are the ones who are putting the information on the web. However, others should be able to decide if others can publish this information.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't have anything against people who update their status 24/7, tweet for every single thing, or check-in frequently. If people go around accusing other of interacting too much with these sites, it shows they are also spending too much time online, and perhaps they shouldn't judge.
All in all, I'm ok with people posting where they are and what they're doing, as long as they had a choice to post it or not.
I find "check-in" services to be possibly the single most understated threat of modern cyberculture. Hear me out on this.
ReplyDeleteSay you decide to go to Thundercloud Subs one night. The moment you check in there, EVERYONE knows you're a Thundercloud. Great, what's the big deal, right? The problem is that now they know where you AREN'T. Anyone who wants to waltz down to your apartment and break into a currently-unoccupied and undefended home can, and with the advent of GPS technology, they can see how far away you are and estimate how long it will take for you to come back.
I have not used a "check-in" service in my life, and have absolutely no plans to because of this threat to my own personal security.
I like your point, Nemo. I don't know much about Foursquare, but I personally would not feel comfortable disclosing my location to a potentially huge network of people I barely even know. On the other hand, would I share that information with a group of close friends? Yeah, why not. So I think it's probably safe to assume that the majority of Foursquare are pretty careful about who receives their check-in notifications, and that your average home invasion specialist probably isn't trying to crack a network of you and your friends for tips on when to raid your apartment. Still, it pays to be smart about when you check-in... don't think it's such a good idea to do it everywhere all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound weird to check in everywhere you go, but I feel like the way technology is heading this may become the norm one day in the near or distant future. People are already updating each other constantly, so it really isn't that much of a stretch to literally announce everywhere you are.
ReplyDelete