Pantyhose and Oranges (Some Thoughts on Foursquare and User Engagement)

I’ve recently discovered Foursquare and have really taken a shine to it, so I decided to write down a few thoughts about why I think they have a distinct advantage in the geo-social app space. This first post focuses on user engagement, an area where foursquare packs a one-two punch.

It’s Just a Game
Many people opt out of twitter and status updates because they have convinced themselves or have been told that no one cares what they are doing. Unless you have no facebook friends (I’m looking at you Mussolini), there’s a pretty good chance somebody out there wants to know what you are up to. Foursquare is a beautifully designed Trojan horse for getting otherwise uninterested parties to engage their friends.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to find a group of people willing to knock down random objects using only an orange shoved down a pair of pantyhose tied around the waist. But if one were to couch this activity under the auspices of a game and add the element of competition in the mix then – whoa boy! – go get those oranges. That is the sweet seduction of Foursquare. It doesn’t seem egotistical to broadcast your activities because it’s simply part of the game.

The Friendly Nudge
Perhaps it’s just a matter of being one of the first to bring this feature to market, but one distinct advantage that Foursquare has over other social apps is that it takes advantage of the iPhone’s notification system introduced in Apple’s 3.0 software. When one of your friends checks in, your phone immediately alerts you to their location and current status.

Apps like loopt suffer from these chicken/egg problems where no one uses it because no one uses it. But this is mitigated by the notification system. With foursquare if any of your friends check in, you get the alert, and it’s a soft reminder that you should check in as well. This causes a ripple effect as your other friends (and their friends) start updating and before you know it Kevin Bacon is updating his status.

Also, the nudge is essential for new users who have not quite made it a habit to check-in when they arrive at a location. Implementing alerts is a feature available to all developers, of course, but foursquare is using it beautifully.