Mike’s posterous

Foursquare is a fun game and in some cases a useful tool. I've become quite fond of it despite a bout of craziness that ensued early on in my Foursquare usage. That little bit of insanity however did give me pause and made me think about how I wanted to use the application. Below is a short list of criteria that I use to determine whether I will friend someone on Foursquare:

1. Do I know you well enough to feel comfortable in letting you know where I am and where I've been? I'm not an overly paranoid person but if you and I just met last night and you are sending me a Foursquare invite this morning, you probably aren't going to make the cut immediately.
2. Are you a fun person? As you can see by the "bout of craziness" link above this is not an exact science. To me, Foursquare is a great app for having fun with friends. My buddy Chad Northrup and I are constantly ribbing each other over the Mayorship of our favorite liquor store and Starbucks. I like having fun and I don't mind other people poking fun at me, that's who I am. If I don't feel that you could handle a little teasing from time to time then you aren't right for my list.
3. Do I want you to comment on my location or potentially show up after I've checked in? This is an odd one but SO important. There are a lot of people whom I would call friends, and sometimes family members fit here too, but I wouldn't want them seeing me check in to Starbucks. Why? Because they have demonstrated stalker-like and time sucking vortex powers of epic proportions. We all have these friends. We love them but we can only take them in small doses. If you are a "I'll see you when I see you type of friend" then you aren't going on my list.

That's pretty much it. It's not a self righteous bullshit list where I tell you how you MUST use Foursquare to stay in my good graces. It's a social tool that I use for fun and to stay connected with other fun people.

BTW: I'm not offended if I don't make your cut. I've got several people who have yet to accept my Foursquare invites and I'm not losing sleep over it. I'm sure they've got their criteria too.

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Developers bitch about Apple's App Store but iPhone/iPod users spend $200 million a month there. Who's the app store built for? You guessed it, the iPhone and iPod touch user. It's not that Apple doesn't care about the developers, they just care more about the people giving them money.

The app developers are users of the app store, by virtue of the fee they pay to the developer program they are customers too, but Apple is smart in focusing on the application discovery and delivery process as it's top priority. $200 million per month smart. Now I know Apple has a monopoly and users have no other choice but to use the app store to get applications on their devices but I think most people would agree the process of finding and installing an application couldn't be much easier. And it is this ease of use for the paying customer that has made Apple billions.

Customers exchange money for things they value. So the question you as a business person need to answer is "what do I have that is valuable and who will pay me for it?" Once you have the answer focus your attention on maximizing the experience for that group of people.

In Apple's case, developers are great and they will pay to play because they need access to Apple's distribution system but everyone in the ecosystem knows it's all about the person with the iPhone in his hand. Why do you think Apple can sometimes seem almost hostile to the developer? It's because their first priority is to the happiness of the end consumer. They know that as long as there are millions of iPhone users cruising the app store there will be no shortage of app developers looking for shelf space.

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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This is ShortMan's entry for his school's pumpkin fest celebration this weekend. The boy loves Scooby Doo.

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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I am taking this opportunity to publicly apologize to Joselin Mane for misjudging the nature of our relationship. If that seems like an odd thing for one to need to apologize for I assure you it is not.

Joselin I am deeply sorry that I made the assumption that you and I had a relationship where we could lightheartedly joke with one another via Twitter and other social media channels. When I posted the picture of you flashing the peace sign with the caption "This is @joselinmane committing a flagrant @FourSquare foul." I did so with the belief that our interactions up to that point, which had always been friendly and filled with laughter, would allow for some fun. In fact at the very moment I made that post you and I, along with serval other people were, standing outside Starbucks in Central Square laughing after having just filmed the Four Burgers episode of NomX3. I would hope that alone would serve as evidence that I had no malicious intent to harm your public image.

I had always held you in high esteem and enjoyed seeing you at events around town. If you recall I was pleased to see you show up during the taping of the show that day and made a special point to engage you with a hearty handshake when taping had wrapped. Going back further, I have promoted you and your BostonTweetup project on Tweetworks TV (see episodes 39 and 46) freely and spoke highly of you and the effort. Again, I would hope this would be top of mind when you considered whether I was out to do your harm.

Based on your direct messages to me (listed below) after the post however, I know you believe diferently. For this misjudgement on my behalf I am truly sorry and I hope you can forgive my lapse in judgement.

Warmest,

Mike Langford

To anyone else reading this public apology, Joselin is a good man and he is working very hard. Despite the dust-up caused by my error in judgement I still wish him well and want to see him succeed. I posted this apology and the supporting material below because I owe it to Joselin.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a location based, social application with a fun game compontent layered on top. Users connect with their friends and check in at locations as they go about their daily lives. Points are awarded for checking in. Add a new venue and you get extra points. Check in to a particular venue often enough and you are declared the Mayor of the venue. Then there are the badges which are awarded to users as a fun way to keep them engaged and competing with their friends. Badge names range from the PG rated Adventurer and Explorer to the more adult themed Crunked or Bender.

All in all the game is supposed to be fun. C'mon people are psyched when they unlock the Crunked badge. The lesson learned here though is, only connect with people you know well enough to share your location, share a beer and a laugh with on a regular basis.

The Post

Here is the original post typo in Joselin's name and all.

This is @joselinemane committing a flagrant @FourSquare foul.

[[posterous-content:LW3gnFImepNGzmkgaOpn]]

The Direct Messages That Followed

The lesson learned here is people see and react to things much differently than you might expect sometimes. Tread lightly. Make sure you have a good relationship with the people you are joking with. If you find that relationship isn't there as I did, beg off and give the peson his space. Life is too short for grudges. I only post these messages below to ensure there is no future misunderstandings.

•  JoselinMane: As supportive as I have been to you & your brand, what U tweeted was extremely uncalled For! I will no longer support YOU!
• JoselinMane: An inside joke is an inside JOKE, Think before you tweet something out to the public timeline!
• JoselinMane: Good think I hadn't spoke to the Exemplar team about you yet.
• JoselinMane: look at what you tweeted & how it makes me look, why would I joke about my public image?

Again, I like Joselin and assumed he was joking because I had never seem him without a smile on his face. I hope the next time we see each other the smile is back.

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