Foursquare Users Beware: Please Rob Me!
This is hilariously scary, and pretty representative of todays over-sharing culture.
FourSquare seems like a pretty cool idea. It checks in locations and doesn’t afraid of anything. It’s a cool social networking idea that helps you prove to the world that you have a social life and go out and do stuff. (I started using it and quickly realized I, in fact, do not go out as much as I’d like to.)
Well there’s some interesting things developingwith this tool.
One - it’s totally vulnerable. This person figured out a way to cheat and say that he was checking in from the North Pole. He also went on to figure out how to check in as other people, made fake celeb accounts, and then checked them into silly places.
Two - You’re letting the world know you are not home. Please Rob Me is a site that posts when people have checked in. The very fact that you are checking in from somewhere from other then your home means, surprise, you are not home. I would imagine this is mostly silly, and goes a long way to make a point, but it’s an interesting statement.
Again, I think FourSquare is an awesome idea, it means well, and looks good on paper, and all those other cliches, but also a sign of the times.
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