Location, Location, Location

In theory, location apps are all the rage.  Mostly because a friend was excited about them, I decided to try a couple, Foursquare and Gowalla.  My first check-in using Foursquare was at my favorite grocery store.  Not trying very hard, my second check-in a few days later was also at my favorite grocery store.  I became mayor.  I'm still mayor.  I now have other mayorships, at places a little more exciting than my grocery store (tho my grocery store is quite exciting), but with about as much effort.

If location apps are all the rage, why am I mayor of anything?  Frankly, I don't get out that much.

So I wonder if location apps really are the next big thing or if this is another Silicon Valley navel gazing fad which either hasn't caught on or will never catch on.  It is sort of fun to check-in to places.  I'm not sure how exciting being mayor is, but okay, i guess that's fun.  And the badges are cute.  And the leaderboards are sort of interesting, though I don't know who any of the people are.  I haven't set up cross-posting because other people have and it just clutters things up.  I haven't built specific app communities because I suspect that I just don't care that this friend just arrived here or there.  Maybe I'd care if they were at my grocery store, of which I dream of being mayor for life, but no, not really.

Maybe this is just a curve though.  After initially finding it annoying, I've gotten accustomed to the chatty familiarity of Facebook.  I thought being better connected to my posse would be vaguely annoying, but, after a bit of judicious pruning, I found I kind of like knowing that this person is thinking this or up to that.  Maybe I can find it in myself to care where they're having pizza right now.

I also wonder if the apps couldn't be easier to use.  Why do I have to explicitly check-in?  Couldn't they auto-check-in?  Oh, yes, I might walk by an adult bookstore, and get checked in under false pretenses (really, false!  I promise!), on the other hand, maybe that would improve my reputation.  I also wonder if this wouldn't be a boon to stalkers who could now follow my every move.  I don't have these kinds of problems, but I wonder why we're so willing to put ankle bracelets on ourselves.

Or maybe it's just nice to know when a friend is having pizza.  Maybe I'd join them.