COMMENTS
Thanks for this Dan.
I'm trying to wrap my head around the numbers here. I wonder if you also saw that correlation between sharing checkins within the actual foursquare network and friends, badges and mayorships. Seems to me that some of this sharing is also dependent upon the way in which you were introduced to foursquare. Whether via a community of friends that you participate in or if you discovered it on your own and use it primarily on your own as well.
great study, thanks again.
I post about 75% of my checkins to Twitter, and about 30% to Facebook.
I am in a city where 4square is not popular (neither is Twitter to be honest). Giving exposure through these other channels is good for making people aware of its existence.
It depends on where I am - recently I was on vacation in FL and posted my check-ins to Facebook. It turned out a high school friend was also vacationing in the area. I will tweet locations that I have found and want to provide exposure - a good restaurant or other service.
Interesting, thanks.
Couple suggestions:
1) in addition to the charts, it'd be useful to do a real statistical comparison, to see if the differences are statistically significant. (a simple formula, and all you need is sample size and standard deviation of each distribution). Depending on the spread, the differences in the averages could be insignificant.
2) You guys are marketing experts. Would be interesting to get your hypotheses on why this might be so, what the marketing take-away is, any advice. Otherwise, this is as useful as knowing that there's a higher proportion of men named Michael in Idaho than in California - what do I do with it? (possible answer: adjust proportion of gift store coffee mugs with names)
Hey Dan,
Users that post ALL their checkins, probably either just started using Foursquare, or don't use it that often.
Those of us who use Foursquare frequently are more careful about which checkins to share - some are interesting, some aren't.
To answer your question, I'll only post checkins to FB and Twitter that I think others would find interesting / timely. If they're neither, then there is no point. Checkins are still content.
I'm with Seth on this one. I post interesting checkins to Facebook because I know most (if not all) of my Facebook connections well. However, I do not post any to twitter since I don't know most of my connections there personally.
I don't understand Foursquare check ins at all. I don't really care that you are at Target or the gym or the dry cleaner. I could maybe see checking in to get access to discounts and badges (that matter why?), but why would you connect it to your Twitter and Facebook accounts? Would you normally fill your feed with "I am eating a sandwich" or "I just washed my car"?
Can someone explain the fascination?
I post to Twitter which in turn posts to Facebook. I'm a foursquare newb but am more interested in using it to share a quick tip with my network as opposed to actually meeting up with people and that's best done through my extended networks. I'm not bothered if I never become a mayor.
Is there a way to block Foursquare updates on Twitter like there is on Facebook? I do not care if someone is at Starbuck's or at Jiffy Lube - as fascinating as those sound.
I use Gowalla instead of Foursquare because that is where my friends are. And as mentioned by others I post only the interesting posts to my Twitter (which feeds my Facebook). I get comments / responses on both the Facebook and Twitter posts and a few on Gowalla (which end up being more interesting to me at least).
The Twitter / Facebook feeds are for places I love, want to endorse, or really really dislike (only one so far).
Also, I'm not in it for the badges and pins. But it is fun to go to a new location and try to follow a "trip" makes new places interesting.
Have used Gowalla to find places to eat (with more trusted reviews than Yelp or Urban Spoon), and for services (nail salon) in a traveling location.
While I don't cross post the majority of my check-ins, I will post one to twitter & facebook every now and then just to encourage some carry over of followers from my more developed profiles.
Maybe newer users of foursquare are still in that "honeymoon" period where they are more inclined to broadcast the fact that they are using a new service. Interesting stuff either way!
Sophisticated users? Try non-irritating users. I hate having my feeds cluttered up with people's weekly Boloco runs.
I agree with a lot of what has already been said re: only posting interesting check-ins.
I only post check-ins to Twitter (never Facebook) if they are relevant. For example, I post check-ins to activities like PRSA meetings or social media events. I'll also sometimes share my check-in if I'm somewhere exotic, usually accompanied by a photo. (World's biggest ball of yarn, etc.)
I still check-in other places, I just don't share them on Twitter. :)
I use Foursquare mostly to check-in at notable venues. like to tell my followers that I'm at a great even for PR pros and they should stop by, or I'm in the office, or that I'm out on the town with other marketing folks and people should stop by. I'm not in it for the badges or mayorship, and I know many others that aren't either. In our opinion badges and mayorship does NOT necessary = sophisticated. We're just using it in a different sophisticated way.
What being said, I typically only post these updates on Twitter and rarely use Facebook, mostly due to the fact that my Twitter friends use Foursquare and most of my Facebook friends don't.
Alright, I should say something against the trend here:
Knowing you're at Jiffy Lube is boring regardless if its a tweet, FQ checkin, by mouth or any channel.
But, I don't mind seeing checkins and having them appear in my feeds. Your feeds probably have more tweets and posts that are less interesting/useful than FQ. My feed isnt clogged with checkins and I doubt yours is either.. so relax a bit.
Also, no one is in it *only* for mayorships/badges, but that makes it all the more fun. I enjoy it. It doesn't make us unsophisticated, that's just ridiculous. No one is making you use FQ in any certain way.
i post check-ins to both facebook and twitter, mostly to facebook. my friends there are more tolerant of my coffee shop stops. i'm a relatively new user of foursquare, so still in that new-toy enamored phase, but i would not consider myself an unsophisticated user. my facebook is for my personal communication, so the fun checkins and badges are appropriate. my twitter audience is mostly b2b marketers to i filter my checkins for appropriate notifications. looking for ways foursquare can support b2b marketers.
The new TweetDeck filters out FS checkins (and can view in a seperate feed)
I wonder if you have some idea what percentage of Foursquare user base posts to Twitter and/or Facebook. Thanks.
One suggestion is to make the default twitter share to No' in the 4SQ iPhone app. I update my 4SQ whenever I am at any location, but as Seth said, I might just want to share the interesting ones, which might be just 10% of total check-ins. But for the 90% of times, I have to take an additional step to change the update to twitter setting to No.
Hope this makes sense.. or am I the only one not interested in sharing my gas station and dry cleaning check-ins?!
I think it is simply that those who do not use foursquare much will not worry about clogging up Twitter or facebook.
As you use it more you will become aware of how much spam it creates.
I use it lightly, so my facebook and Twitter updates do not seem too much... Yet.
I rarely use ANY automatic posting service, so it's almost incidental that 4sq offers Twitter/FB posts. It's just not a good value match for people who follow my posts.
If my persona and audience matched better by accidental discovery, say as a VC seeking ideas, posting my location more publicly would make sense.