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Should Your Foursquare Check-ins Post to Twitter and Facebook?

13 Apr 2010

13 Apr, 2010  Facebook, marketing, social media, Twitter

Most people who know me, follow my blog or talk to me on Twitter know that I’m not a big fan of cross-posting, where people post updates in one social network and have it automatically post to other social networks. If you missed my post, check it out “To Cross-Post or Not to Cross-Post.”  So you won’t be surprised to know my opinion is the same when it comes to Foursquare,  a location-based service where people “check-in” at places they go to.foursquare_logo

With Foursquare, you can set your preferences in a few ways: so it automatically tweets or posts an update to Facebook (called “updates” throughout this post), so it updates when you become a Mayor/earn a badge (doesn’t update very frequently) or so all your activity stays solely on Foursquare.  For people who are out and about a lot, they may check-in up to 10-20 times a day. So that means if they have their settings set such that each Foursquare check-in updates, 10-20 tweets and Facebook updates per day appear!

My hypothesis was that the majority of people on Twitter and Facebook do NOT like seeing Foursquare updates on Twitter/Facebook.  I don’t.  If I wanted to know where someone is, I would probably connect with them on Foursquare, so I can see where they are in that application, and I don’t need to clutter twitter with constant messages such as “I’m at Starbucks” or “I’m at Trader Joe’s.”  I occasionally like seeing if people are at a special location (i.e. Fenway) or become a mayor or earn a badge, but not for every check-in. To prove or disprove my hypothesis, I ran a poll — results are below:


As you can see, the poll doesn’t exactly support my hypothesis.  But, when looking at the comments, I could easily reclassify 5 (or even more) of the Other votes based on the comments to be “Dislikes”, which brings Dislikes up to 58%.  It makes the point I was trying to make, but not by as much of a landslide as I was expecting.

So, the question is… as someone who posts ALL (or close to all) of you check-ins to Facebook/Twitter,  why do you do it?  What do you get out of it?  Do you not get the same benefit from just checking in on Foursquare and letting your connections know your status there? Knowing that 25% of people dislike it, will that change actions?  And, for people who like seem the stream of check-ins, why do you like it?  Do you not find it to clutter your Twitter and Facebook stream?

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  • http://joelfoner.com/about Joel Foner

    I suspect that the real issue is, like with Tweets, some folks check in at such a high rate that they overtake other traffic. I only push FourSquare checkins to Twitter once in a long while, and don't check in that often in the first place. There are some folks who bury the stream with FourSquare checkins, and those get to be a bit much.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

    Exactly my point! Thanks for the comment Joel.

  • http://frankdickinson.me/ Frank Dickinson

    Rachel – As my Friend base has grown on the Foursquare application I am now considering posting updates just top those friends.

    Previously I have posted to Twitter with an included message. My thinking was to give my Followers another point of contact with me as I work my day.

    Great stuff to consider from your post.

  • http://www.redgiantconsulting.com Tamara Gruber

    Hi Rachel, I am someone who definitely posts selectively. If I'm out with the family at a location I think my personal network would like to hear about, I post to Facebook. If I'm at an industry event and I will be live tweeting, I post to Twitter. If I want people to know I'm travelling, I might post to either or both. I was never a fan of people who cross-posted every tweet to Facebook because it clutters up my stream and I might miss something really interesting. However, I think doing it selectively can be of interest to those different audiences following you on various networks.

  • TPapi

    I don't think that the issue is so much with the increase in Twitter volume caused by foursquare; plenty of people that I follow tweet more than the combined number of foursquare check-in tweets that I receive each day. To me the issues are the lack of value that these updates provide based on our the expectations for different social media channels and content duplication.

    Twitter is an information network. Foursquare is a location network. Therefore on Foursquare the check-in alone has value, but on Twitter it is just noise. Adding context or information to a location update gives that check-in value on Twitter (a belief that is born out by the poll comments). In addition just as cross-posting Tweets to Facebook is aggravating because of duplication of content, so too is cross posting check-ins from Foursquare. Therefore my rule is no cross-posting UNLESS you are adding value to your message (a note about what's going on, who's there, a witty bon mot) and then only cross-post to 1 other social network, either Twitter or Facebook never both.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

    GREAT points Thomas. Yes, it's a question of value, and I get no value from
    “I'm at Starbucks.” But if it was “I'm at Starbucks with Thomas Trumble or
    President Obama”, then that would be important. Well said.

  • http://twitter.com/MarcFrechette Marc Frechette

    I'm at Rachel-Levy.com learning about #4sq check-ins…
    I've been forced into unfollowing some great minds because I got so tired of their check-ins. Good you're at your job… Oh, now you're out getting coffee? What's this, another check-in? Must be back at the desk enjoying your coffee.
    At times I wish Twitter had similar app-blocking features as Facebook.
    Great article as always, Rachel.
    This is social. There is sharing. There is over-sharing. And there is being that creepy loud person who haunts your office with pictures of cats that may or may not belong to aforementioned persons.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

    Great point. An app that hides other apps! Good project for you Marc!

  • mdurwin

    I do and I don't. Foursquare isn't exactly a social network, there are no ways, within the program to communicate with others. In my mind, Foursquare is just an app to enable your Tweeting, much like Tweetdeck, TweetMusic, Scrobbler, etc. In those instances the tools allow you to share information that Twitter proper does not such as images and what music I'm listening to. Foursquare allows me to share my location with my Twitter network.
    I do not necessarily let it post to Facebook, only under circumstances where I want my friends and family to know where I am, like that night I spent helping my friend Brad build a house in New Orleans then his wife Angie cooked us dinner.
    Seriously though, I unhitched my Facebook and Twitter accounts prior to going to SXSW to avoid overloading my contacts there with my SoMe geekfest tweets. I keep Facebook to friends, family and very select group of colleagues. Twitter is for potential clients and colleagues. LinkedIn is for colleagues and clients. I do not necessarily cross post to all but I do in some instances, those in which the information would be educational, interesting, or entertaining for those associated with that network.
    As for my view from the other side, I don't check Foursquare for checkins from friends. Twitter is my main communications channel with local folks, so I want to see their Foursquare checkins there. It reduces the number of platforms I need to check.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

    Thanks for the comment Michael. I'm curious to hear more about why
    Foursquare isn't a social network. It's 2-way communication. People have
    the ability to “create content” both by checking in, which their connections
    and other can see, and by adding tips. Isn't that social?

    Does knowing that 58% of people taking this survey would prefer not to see
    the check-ins, change your view at all?

  • TPapi

    Rachel – I think that you have stumbled onto something interesting there. The online social value of Foursquare is lower than for Twitter and Facebook. Is that because less people use it? How about because there are already other networks that we are engaged in for status updates? Is it because the network is more focused? Does the fact that it is explicitly about activity in the real world have something to do with it? Time for another poll.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

    Well, for ME, it's because I use Twitter to connect to people with similar interests. Knowing that they're at Starbucks doesn't help me connect with them. Knowing they're at Fenway, out of town, or a gathering where I know a bunch of people, that's an interesting conversation piece.

  • derekedmond

    I post updates but only because I rarely use the service and hope it is not that intrusive because of that. I use the update as a vote of confidence for the location as opposed to the fact that I am there (but I agree with the comment that it would be nice to customize the message more effectively)

    That said, its interesting to see that even in a small sample size, 50% or more dislike it.

  • http://www.rachel-levy.com Rachel Levy

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