Those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know I’ve joined and am quite active on Foursquare. You saw me join and go hyper checking in everywhere possible, and unfortunately for you sharing those check-ins on Facebook and Twitter every time. You’re also made aware every time I become the Mayor of some place or when I unlock a badge.

WHY?

Why did I join Foursquare? To know what the fuss was about. Those who know me know I’m the Quebec Regional Director for IAB Canada. It’s my responsibility to answer the market’s questions on interactive marketing and advertising. For me to be able to answer the questions that come regularly, I keep informed quite a bit. I’ve been setting aside articles on Foursquare since last fall. But the volume seems to be increasing these days so I decided to start reading up. Not understanding much of what I was reading, I opted to join to figure it out. Like trying to explain Twitter to a non-user, Foursquare is a whole new ball game.

So I joined, and while I’m at it, why not test its limits to better explain what this social game is about, what it’s for and what it could do for a merchant.

WHAT IT IS?

Foursquare is a social location-based game. Essentially, you publish where you are when you’re there – regardless of the place: I’m at Place Bonaventure. I’m at Tim Horton’s. I’m at Honda Boucherville… You must sign up on their site and you can see your friends, badges and stats there, but you need to use your mobile phone to actually check into anywhere. Why bother? There are a few reasons. Like Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, you connect to friends who are on it and see what they’re up to. The interest here is to physically be near enough other people to be enticed to get up and go see them if you have the time.

POINTS

Each « check-in » earns you points. The first check-in of the day gives you 1 point, the second gives you 2, the third 3, etc… Discovering a new location (checking in there for the first time) earns you an extra 5 points.  Points start adding up from Monday morning to Sunday night and the mobile app lets you see the leaderboard for your friends, or for your city, to see how you measure up.

BADGES

Foursquare is a game that tallies points, ok, so what? Some check-ins unlock badges. Your first check-in rewards you with the Newbie badge. Check-in to 10 different places earns you the Adventurer. And so on…

MAYORSHIP

Make 2 check-ins more than anybody else in a same place and become that place’s Mayor. If and when you rack up 10 mayorships, you earn the Super Mayor badge.

LEADERBOARD

Every Monday, counters are reset to zero. You can measure yourself against your friends and even against everyone else in your city. Below is my score for the week ending April 18 2010 compared to my friends and against Montreal. See how I’m already testing the limists? I’ve become a power user.

Next time around I’ll answer many questions you may have still pending, such as “So what?” “Who Cares”, does everyone really need to tell me where they are on Facebook and or Twitter?