It would seem that I am now the mayor of:
- Slaithwaite – https://foursquare.com/venue/22003526
- The Commercial – https://foursquare.com/venue/2523077
- The co-op – https://foursquare.com/venue/6193806
- The Golcar Lily – https://foursquare.com/venue/3781605
- Wellhouse - https://foursquare.com/venue/23504630
- Kebabish -https://foursquare.com/venue/3272586
- Handmade Bakery – https://foursquare.com/venue/12955267
- and even (wait for it) … The Ibis Old Town in Boulogne!
And yet, I’ve had enough.
Is it the glory of it all? The weight of the bling? (hardly).
No, it’s much more mundane than that. I’m fed up with it all. Gowalla too – I’ve already deleted them both from my iPad and will soon delete them from my iPhone too.
I wrote about my experiment with situational social applications last month – http://eduvel.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/gowalla-and-foursquare/ – and wondered then just how worthwhile they would turn out to be. Well, for me, they have not turned out to be worthwhile at all and have been constantly frustrating.
My main problem is that I cannot register my presence at every place I want to. Foursquare constantly tells me that there’s something wrong with my connection to the internet – yet everything else still works (even Gowalla, which was at first just as erratic). I find this very frustrating.
It’s even more frustrating when the only reason I can see for using the App is the competitive element of it. I’m always just in front of, or just behind John Popham and Alison Lones but never in the lead because James Clay seems to register every step he takes 
The other day, I was in Slaithwaite post office and noted that it wasn’t registered, so I set out to do so but the App refused to let me because (I assume) ‘post office’ was already registered (although nowhere to be seen on the system). It has also been know to tell me that I’m too far away from the point I’m trying to register my presence at e.g. Clacket Lane Services, even when I’m stood in the car park!
Enough. I resign.
Ensuing discussions:
http://elearningstuff.net/2011/06/19/e-learning-stuff-podcast-077-i-resign-as-mayor/
http://tech.jamesclay.net/?p=2011&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook
Other views:
http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/technology/foursquare-getting-the-students-to-go-outside/
