The crowd sourced @foursquare etiquette guide. YOUR OPINIONS WANTED! #New4sqGuide

The crowd sourced @foursquare etiquette guide. YOUR OPINIONS WANTED! #New4sqGuide
- 24 Mar 2010
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In late December the guys over at Old Media. New Tricks. published a nice guide as to how one should behave 'on' foursquare.

In the last few weeks, I've noticed an increased amount of discussion re 'foursquare etiquette' so I wanted to take it a step further...with your help.

Our mission: Let's collectively create to some basic customs / rules for foursquare use.

Getting involved is easy.

Just add your thoughts / suggestions to the comments section below and then in a few days I'll publish the full list and we can vote on what's in and what's out.

Simples!

Adam Vincenzini

SPREAD. THE. WORD.

Oh, please re-tweet this around so we can get as many people's views as possible. Thanks!
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about 2 years ago jackbremer (Twitter) responded:

Hey Adam, this is a great idea - for those of us early adopters who are using these geolocation tools (Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite etc etc), we need to establish some semblance of order, ease-of-use and guidelines in order for the masses to join up as well. If it's not clear to people in a few seconds, how these services can make their lives more informed and fun then we're fighting a losing battle.
Having read the OM/NM article, I think they have many of the bases covered, and my main tips/rules would be:
1/
Add VALUE - don't go mindlessly checking in to every business you pass on the bus, and don't "just" check in - where you can add a comment (anything from a simple "yum" upwards!) or tip.
COMMENTS are seen in real time by your friends (e.g. this band is awesome, or great to see Jim back behind the bar), whereas TIPS are permanent records of your suggestions (go for the sirloin steak, and go rare - they tend to overcook a little, or make sure you get the margarita on the rocks and hold the salt for the best drink in town).
2/
Don't over-check-in - this I suppose is an extension of the first point - most of us don't care if you are in your apartment, in the loo, on a bus etc. We care when you have found a local gem of a place and want to recommend it, we care when you are doing something out of the ordinary, we care when you advise us. Remember, each time you check-in (albeit you can change this setting per check-in) you're potentially telling me on Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook. Multiply those three social interactions by the number of check-ins and suddenly my social stream is filled with your location info - often tediously so!
3/ Have fun and find your own value - people are saying "Foursquare is the next Twitter" but just as many people are saying "I'm over it" - you need to find value in these tools early on by experimenting (within reason) and using them in a way that compliments your lifestyle.

about 2 years ago mario (Twitter) responded:

I think a lot of this is common sense, can't argue with much of the original article, or Jack's comment above.
One comment re. sharing check-ins on twitter/Facebook etc.:
By default I don't share check-ins on twitter (both foursquare and gowalla now have an option to disable this in the settings), *unless* I also add a comment to the check-in, in which case I usually send it to twitter, as adding the comment makes it more akin to a "normal" status update, just with the additional location/venue info.

about 2 years ago Joel Hughes responded:

Hi,
I think the article had some great tips in there - thanks for sharing that Adam.
One thing I'd say is that I'm not really a fan of adding questionable venues such as "apartment" or things which are not real world business venues. This is perhaps because I see 4SQ as a social rewards system enabler (and there is a slight privacy concern as well).
Also, the article doesn't quite make it clear that you cannot edit venues etc until you are at least a superuser level 1 on 4SQ.
In response to jackbreme - you make some great points but I probably look at things from a slightly different point of view to you:
1) "add value"
I don't completely agree. If you are checking in just to be part of a rewards system offered by a venue and are not shouting it out to your "friends" then you do not need to "add value"...just checkin. Btw you mention "every business you pass on the bus" - this is not a "checkin" in my books (or the articles)
2) "Don't over-check-in"
I don't agree. Checkin as much as you want to (without it spoiling the experience for your dinner partner as the article says!) but always exercise your right to who sees that checkin! Does it need to be a shout out? Does it need to go to Twitter? Does it need to go to Facebook? The key is sensibly controlling the broadcast of the message...and 4SQ already have great tools for that (which ties in with what mario above says).
:)
Joel

about 2 years ago Grant Smith responded:

I'd like to support this initiative, but considering I've already violated half the recommendations above I'd feel like a bit of a fraud! Mostly this has happened because I want to learn as much as possible about the platform in as little time as possible. A bit like Twitter I guess; do the annoying newbie stuff first and get it out of your system, then if you're planning on sticking around your personal usage will evolve.
However, I do take the point that not understanding how to manage push notifications generally is a great way of getting on everyone's tits, so here are a few lessons I learned the hard way that have only just started to hit home this week (after finally uploading an avatar - turns out this is quite an important step!):
1. When installing the app on your phone, link it to everything. This way if you have friends also on foursquare (et al), they can find you and help you become less choady more quickly (thanks @AdamVincenzini for your patience with my stupid push notifications).
2. When installing the app on your phone...turn off ALL push notifications. You need to learn to do this anyway so this is as good an app to practice with as any. Also, if you ever decide you want bragging rights for how often you go to the hairdresser then there's another lesson to be had in turning the push notifications back on. This exercise will also help you avoid annoying @AdamVincenzini. FYI Gowalla is a much bigger culprit for this.
3. Try to avoid checking-in to stuff until you've uploaded an avatar. If you're like me you avoid the upload because you want to have a play with the thing first. Fine, but the thing is...you can't become a Mayor (for example) until you do it, so you can't accrue any of the marketing gimmick benefits like free stuff. Also, if you go around checking in everywhere without an avatar, when you finally upload a photo you'll find you've become Mayor of *Stupid Stuff*. Like Tesco Express. Seriously, #majorcoolfail.
4. Don't be a Mayor hog. Half the fun is (meant to be - I just do it for the free stuff!) becoming Mayor of stuff. Let other people have a go.
5. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, join up just because you read about it on Twitter or some marketing blog. Do it because you actually give a stuff or have an interest.
6. Make "Off the grid" your friend.
Hope this helps :)

about 2 years ago Chiara Cosenza responded:

Hi Adam & all,
Nice article and useful comments.
I do agree with most of the etiquette guidelines in the article. After all it's about common sense :)
I would add:
1. Encourage new people to join foursquare.
Foursquare is fun because of the badge system, but it becomes more interesting when your friends join it and you can connect with them as well. What I do to encourage a friend who just joined fq is to comment on their recent activity (either live in a conversation or through twitter). Of course not in a creepy way (<-->"I do care where you go and your tips about this or that place").
2. To me, It's ok to check in on locations where you pass by quickly... if it's to earn a badge (the over-sharing badge for example) or when you are visiting a place and your friends are following (i.e. I'm in Rome... look there is the Colosseo...oh look there is Piazza Venezia... now Piazza di Spagna.... ). So as Joel says... it's ok to over-check-in unless the person in front of you starts to get really angry (in that case bring a second iphone / bberry so that they can check in too...) ;)

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