Practicum 6- Maddie

While looking through my notes last night, I came across the Mobile Cultures lecture from a few weeks ago. Reading through things that I jotted down, I noticed how closely Foursquare relates to the idea of footprinting. Basically, footprinting is leaving your mark on somewhere that you have been. There are different ways to prove you were there, which is where Foursquare comes in. Foursquare is a perfect demonstration of this idea. Checking in at certain venues shows your network of friends the places that you have been and how frequently you attend these locations. The growing popularity of mobile devices such as smartphones and different aspects of mobile culture make applications such as Foursquare possible. Something to note, however, is that Foursquare is pretty much exclusive to individuals who have smartphones. Although it is possible to use Foursquare through SMS, GPS can only really be activated on phones such as a Blackberry or iPhone. This makes the search on Foursquare a lot easier because your phone is able to suggest venues which you are close to at that given moment.