Hey Foursquare! This is my love letter to you… ❤

(or: “why I’ve been using Foursquare for the last 5 years”)

Being an early adopter of anything technology related in Greece can be a very lonely sport —and it especially was, some years ago, just before smartphones became ubiquitous.

Still, in 2010, with my first generation Android phone (HTC Magic) I was exactly this: a lonely early adopter of a mobile geo-social app called Foursquare. It was a “social game” that I was playing alone. But, for some reason, I liked it.

I still remember the day when I created what was probably the first Foursquare venue in my city. It was the coffee shop near my house that I frequented every morning (now closed). After that, there were some sparse check-ins at Athens, and then some at my home city.

I knew that Foursquare was meant to be used together with others, but at that time, having both a smartphone and the willingness to make your location (semi)public was very rare.

Yet, I continued checking-in, adding venues and then some tips, for my own enjoyment…

Until 2012 came — and suddenly I had over a hundred friend requests in my queue. People in Greece started finding out about “this new check-in app with tips about places”. Facebook integration had definitely helped.

My previously lonely check-in habit, gave its place to a lively feed, full of people from other cities that found me on Twitter, checking-in at places that I didn’t know (but ended up on my “to-do” list). And then arrived my real life friends, who, in the time being, had all bought a smartphone and were by now desensitised to the fear of location sharing.

When I didn’t need to call any of my friends anymore to ask them where they were, is about when I realised that Foursquare had finally made it.

But, why I love Foursquare?

“Why do you love this orange app (Swarm) so much?”

This is a question that I’ve been asked many times. Of course, I’m the earliest user in my social circle and one of the most steadily active in the course of the years. I also leave a tip wherever is needed, and sometimes clean up old venues using my Superuser permissions.

My answer is usually this:

1. I learn about great places to go: This used to be the half part of Foursquare. Now with the check-ins moved over to Swarm, the Foursquare app does exactly this-and does it amazingly! I have many friends that, after I showed them the app, have called me full of amazement about how the visited a new city, and felt just like they were locals.
2. I meet-up with friends in random occasions: This is what Swarm is mostly about. There are many times where I check-in somewhere and a friend happens to be nearby. Meeting up with people in real life is a part of a great life, and Foursquare helps you do it more often.
3. I have a searchable history of wherever I’ve been in the last 5 years: Call it sentimental reasons, call it practical curiosity, with Foursquare I can search my whereabouts by date, place or on a map, in the span of many years. Sometimes, I can almost relieve important days of my life, just by looking at the series of check-ins along with their respective photos. And that’s a basic reason why I keep investing my time to check-in in most places that I go.
4. It just makes my life better: There are so many things nowadays that feed on your precious time, giving you nothing in exchange. Most of them are you-know-which apps and online services that make you caress your screen all day long, while doing nothing in reality. But, Foursquare, isn’t one of those things…

It’s something completely different. Something that may give you a habit of checking-in wherever you go (and making you the center of many check-in related jokes from your friends) but, ultimately, enabling you to enjoy your city to the fullest.

It’s something that gives you a helping hand when walking around a foreign city.

It gives you ideas to go and try things that other have found amazing, to go out there and live your day. Which is, really, the one most important thing you can do about yourself.

And, of course, everything that I’ve read about its founder Dennis Crowley and his vision, aligns totally with all those things. And the team, by the result of its work, seems like an amazing group of people that know how to take a great vision, and make its resulting “product” better everytime.

So, this is why I’ve been loving Foursquare for the last 5–6 years, and will continue to. Just keep it up guys (and girls) of Foursquare. And I hope, one day, in the very near future (after I finish with my CS degree) I might be able to work with you.

Here’s to the next 6 years!

(ps. I love the new Swarm messaging!)