Say Goodbye to FourSquare

Today, I deleted my foursquare.com account. I did it for one reason, and one reason only. I don't like "playing games." Oh, I don't mean the idea of being a Mayor, or getting badges. Those things I did as a boy. "Playing." But Andy grew up a long time a go. A very long time ago, and candidly, as much as I like to know what my friends and colleagues are up to, these days everyone you know isn't really your friend. They just know of you. When it comes to my "friends" I know what they are up to. And if I don't I can easily find out. I don't need some LBS snooper service to tell me like a lurker or a stalker.

A few years ago I came up with the expanded circle of trust concept when talking with a client. It's one that is really needed these days when one realizes just how wide a circle is cast under the guise of a "social" network is, and it's what's really needed as a reference base in the era of LBS (location based services) tied to your mobile phone's GPS. Given how easily your movements can be tracked, traced and yes, likely tampered with it's time to think about who knows what and when.

So here's the layers of the circle of trust. Lower score, means high trust and relationship.

1. Immediate Family

2. Personal friends

3. Colleagues

4. Relatives

5. People you work with (It's only business)

6. People who live around you (You have access to them)

7. People who work around you (They have access to you)

8. People who you know of (they are in you friends of friends or business circle)

9. People who know of you (they are in you friends of friends or business circle)

10. People you don't know personally-You're a fan

11. People who don't know you personally-They're a fan (or worse)

The farther down the line you go, the less anyone should expect trust to be implicit. It just doesn't work that way. So with the kind of friend requests I've been getting via FourSqure and my dislike of "games" I just took myself out of the "game."

Comments

[Jared Goralnick]

I completely agree with you. Fun is valuable, but when the underlying purpose is a game rather than relationships, I’m out.