• by justin , January 27, 2011

First there was MySpace, then spammers and middle aged strangers invaded what we thought was ours. Next there was Facebook, which is slowly being taken over by games and irrelevant group invitations. Not to mention that fact that Facebook has the power to start a relationship, give a photo journal of what happened last weekend and then end that relationship just as quickly as it started.

So, unhappy Facebook users moved on to Twitter, a social network that allows users to give unlimited amounts of updates that can be about absolutely anything the user wants. Why am I telling you all this highly opinionated information? Because it seems that a new social network has come onto the scene, and frankly, it is my absolute least favorite. Ever.

I’m talking about Foursquare. Foursquare is a two year old social network to over six million users that is primarily used for letting other users know exactly where you are. When I say exactly, I mean address, city and zip code. When you “check in” to a location on Foursquare, you’re not tweeting a personal thought. You’re not updating you’re Facebook status to how much you drank last night. You’re doing worse; you’re giving your exact whereabouts to strangers.

I can’t grasp this concept at all. People stopped using MySpace, Facebook and Twitter due to that information being released to strangers but now millions of people outdo themselves by giving pin-point, exact locations. I used to think Facebook was creepy, now I don’t even know what to think.

I guess I’m being very rough on good ol’ Foursquare but I have to. Since this is my first blog of the year and none of you have got a chance to read my content, I just wanted to come out with something powerful and opinionated to make a lasting first impression. I’m a pretty private guy. My Facebook has no wall, you can’t see my pictures and I refuse to accept a friend request until I meet that person. I like to keep my privacy somewhat private, although I know that that’s almost impossible these days. Basically, I just see Foursquare as everything I dislike about social networking sites, all wrapped up into one application.

I’d hope that I’m not the only person who feels like this could potentially be a hazardous application. I’m also aware that there can be privacy settings put in place but with the privacy conditions of our current networking sites, how private can that possibly be? I may be cynical in my approach, but as far as I’m concerned, I won’t be “checking in” anywhere anytime soon.