With mild regret, I will be uninstalling Foursquare from my iPhone tonight. I've been using the app for several months now, with the explicit goal of determining if it added anything useful to my life. My current answer: No. And I'm kind of bummed about that. I anticipate and hope there will be a reason to re-install it in the future, but this is a post about why it doesn't work for me today.

As a disclaimer, I think the app is well designed and incredibly creative... It just doesn't help me, at all. I don't think I'm the target user profile.

Here are the major reasons behind my 'checking out' of Foursquare:

1. Echo Chamber. Many of my friends are on the app, but my Foursquare social network is seemingly too inactive and anemic for me to ever use the app to successfully find anyone. At a recent industry conference, I was able to locate a friend and find out that he was there at the same time. I get it at venues like that, which would also include bars, concerts, clubs, etc. But I don't go to bars and I don't live in SF... So, not my everyday scene. Sure hope Sheri is at Whole Foods again soon, we almost were there at the same time once... What would've I done if we were? Does that matter?

2. Accumulated Indifference to Information. I don't care that an acquaintance of mine just arrived at the Ferry Building... congrats on another successful morning commute from Marin, John. So, I'm pretty sure John doesn't care that I'm at the dry cleaner, either (I'm the mayor of mine. Woot.) Its a schism in my social expectation that somebody I only know through business keeps going to the same taqueria in the Mission. Some folks might find that entertainingly voyeuristic... which it is for maybe a week... then after that it's just useless information. 

3. Weak Reinforcement. In psychology, there is a concept of variable reinforcement, wherein you vary the reward schedule for doing a given task, which makes you do more work to achieve it. Foursqaure badges work on this premise, but they're way too variable. I unlocked a ton of badges early on, then I got nothing for a long time. Nada. Forget for a moment that badges themselves are useless... the point is that if you are going to use a badging system to reward behavior, it needs a stronger reinforcement system to be effective. It must be resilient to many usage profiles. And beyond badges, you have the Mayorship reinforcement... which became a diminishing return for me. I have 18 friggin' mayorships. I didn't even try to get them. I just checked-in everywhere I went (primarily in Berkeley where I live) to see what happened. Here's what happened: I got a bunch of mayorships. Some I cared about because I like the venue (Books Inc. on 4th Street, Zushi Puzzle, etc.)  But I can tell you, the 17th mayorship is not exciting. I don't care anymore. You can have them, I'm not defending them anymore.

4. It's Work. I eventually became mad at myself for bothering to take the time to check-in at places for the sole reason that I was using an app that measures actions by "checking in". Am I really standing here checking in with an iPhone app while I wait for my latte?... The definition of crazy... The past few weeks, I've really resented the self-imposed location fascism that I allowed myself to fall into with this damn thing. It's work to open the app, wait for the connection, check-in... and then have nothing else happen: Location registered. Friends notified. Null.

Maybe I'm just not the target user: I'm a late 30s non-partying guy in Berkeley who apparently wants you to know that he goes to bagel shops, vegan restaurants, bookstores and his dry cleaners with great regularity. Yawn. On the flipside, I'm a forgiving early adopter evangelist with a robust social network... I should care, but I don't care about this app anymore, except in the vague intellectual way that I admire the entrepreneurial effort behind it and I hope the team can figure it out. They've got a smart small team and smart money behind them.

What will get me back? Not sure. Economic incentives might work, but that seems far off. Obvious and deeper integration with my "base" FB social graph would help... But my FB updates, which I can already do easily from my iPhone, satisfy that requirement.

For now, this is my Foursquare check-out... That means that Clean Living Dry Cleaners on Solano Ave has an uncontested mayorship up for grabs, if you care.