David Armano has written an interesting piece on social media trends of 2011 for the Haarrrrvard Business Journal which is worth taking a look at.

He talks about how the mobile and tablet wars will be heating up. He discusses how Facebook is going to take the location-based world by storm. Armano also talks about how Google will most likely start finding more ways to dissect Facebook’s data in a way that they can index it more effectively.

If you are in the social media sphere, take a look at Six Social Media Trends for 2011.

To find out more about Foursquare you can check my posting “Can I Add My Couch as a Location on Foursquare” -  but for those of you who already understand and use the service I’d like to offer up my opinion.  I’d like to see the point system taken off completely. I know that Foursquare started as  a game for the users to get points and badges and mayorships but it has evolved into so much more. I think the false check ins and fake locations have diminished the current value.  Users are doing fake check ins and fake locations to accumulate points which gives you nothing more than bragging rights.  I make this statement as a guilty party. Although I only once did a drive by check in because I thought I was actually helping in doing so, I have added places to Foursqaure that aren’t really beneficial to Foursquare users (they are however, real locations).

In my opinion, Foursquare’s value is the fact that I can locate my friends when I check into a venue or find out what is around me. Better yet, when I check in at a restaurant I can get discounts on my food and get tips on what is good. I see so many future uses for Foursquare but the point system has to go so that it isn’t a competition for bragging rights, but an actual useful tool for businesses and their customers.

The Cheating Hipster (note the fancy moustache)

foursquare, heady with machismo having turned down a cool $100 million, just officially announced that its “cheater code” – an attempt to catch some of the folks that are checking in from their couches to steal mayorships.

For those who don’t know, foursquare is a free service that allows users to “check in” at businesses for points.  The points carry no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for any goods or services, have no brand cachet, and will not inspire anyone you know with any sense of envy or awe.  They’re just arbitrary points.

If you check in at a place more often than anyone else, you become the “Mayor” of that place.  “Mayor” is not a political office and carries no legal authority with it.  No privileges are conferred on the Mayor and the Mayor draws no salary.  The Mayor is not entitled to any special benefits or discounts by virtue of being the foursquare Mayor of a place.

Being a foursquare Mayor imbues one with no additional powers, abilities, or responsibilities.  As with points, the office of foursquare Mayor carries no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for any goods or services, have no brand cachet, and will not inspire anyone you know with any sense of envy or awe.

If you cheat at foursquare, you are a moron.  If you know of anyone who cheats at foursquare, please advise them of their moronitude and tell them to stop.  Cheating at foursquare is just plain sad.

Of course, before foursquare, there was Loopt.  Loopt got a decent start out of the gate, in no small part because its app was namechecked in an iPhone commercial.  However, it was poorly implemented.  It allowed real-time tracking of your friends without any need to “check in”.  Sounds great on paper.  However, when a woman I was a little more than friends responded to my Loopt request with “So you want me to sign up for this app that lets you see where I am at any time?”, I knew that Loopt had landed in the FAILbucket.

Additionally, other social media sites use some form of geotagging.  Twitter’s web interface automatically lists where you are based on your IP address.  Of course, Twitter apps have had geotagging from the get-go.  So where is this heading?

What I’d like to see is a merger of the “mood” feature from MySpace (remember MySpace?) and the geotagging features of social media with the generally stalled platform of Second Life.  Then, mix in some of the Facebook tie-ins like Netflix, the Sony PS3 Trophy Update or XBox Achievements.  Maybe give access to your Visa/Mastercard account too.

Think about it.  You would have a little avatar on your computer that would be just like a little you.  You could see its moods change.  You could follow it around its little house and watch it as it played video games or watched movies.  I think we are at the point where we can stop playing Will Wright’s breakout hit game, “The Sims”, and start actually having our own personal Sim.  Sims for the Social Generation.

It could be called “SimYou”.

This got me thinking….why would I have this thought? Why would I Foursquare my couch? (See how I made that a verb?) As you may know, Foursquare is a social media game that helps users connect with friends, and businesses connect with customers. In the Milwaukee area we have ourselves a social media King in AJ Bombers (Joe Sorge… @ajbaombers) Joe has used both Twitter and Foursquare to connect with his customers and has seen huge success from those platforms. So, for those of you who don’t know,  this is what happens; I go to AJ Bombers, I check in with Foursquare and say that I am there, I get points for being there and Foursquare sends out a tweet saying I’m there.  The tweet will also list other Foursquare/Twitter users that are also at AJ Bombers. This way, if I don’t see someone, I can find them. The other perk is that if the business you are visiting is social  media savvy they may offer special discounts for those who check in on Foursquare. At the end of the week all the points you get for all of your stops gets tallied and you get nothing but bragging rights, but that is something!

Ok so  now that you know what I am talking about, let’s get back to my couch. (No can we really just go sit on my couch? No? Ok fine.) Many people are adding their homes and other personal spaces on Foursquare. (I am so so so guilty of this.) My question is..why? Why do we do this? It’s not as if  my couch is going to see more business if I check in on Foursqaure, nor would I want it to. Quite honestly I want the couch all to myself.  Is it just that I want more points for the bragging rights? Well, yeah that doesn’t hurt, but I’m not sure that is reason enough. So I’m going to chalk it up to that fact that we just like to stay connected, even though we don’t want to admit that. We like the feeling of being able to tell someone that we are doing something, whatever it is, and whomever will listen. And if someone replies, then we know we aren’t alone. We know that someone heard us, and that gives us comfort.

So I’m going to go get my “comfort” on and check in on my couch on Foursquare.

Mark Zuckerberg is at the keg in the backyard!

As if the Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other Retardapp updates continue to plague our newsfeeds, we now will now when everyone is away from home on yet another social platform.

Facebook pissed me off when they tried to blatantly use Twitter’s status update service a few months back. And I have a feeling that all of this “me-too” type reactionary business development by Facebook will only continue to make the site less enjoyable for the longtime Facebook users.

When they updated the Facebook privacy policy back in November they did allude to this type of service in the pipeline. The new policy states:

“When you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post.”

“If we offer a service that supports this type of location sharing we will present you with an opt-in choice of whether you want to participate.”

The location feature will have two basic components: the location-sharing capability offered directly to Facebook members and a set of APIs (application protocol interfaces) for third-party developers to add location-based elements to their Facebook apps.

In my opinion, Facebook seems to have lost its luster and instead of innovating they choose to copy other companies innovative ideas.

Boo! Zuckerberg! Booooo!