Premature Postmortem for Foursquare?

The death of Foursquare? Heard this one yet?

I wrote asking about scary encounters, specifically this one, almost a month ago.

Recently, with Facebook coming out hard with their Places and more specifically Deals, people are heralding the death of 4sq.

I see two problems with the notion in the short term and two in the long term.

Short term?

Most people using FB are plopped at a laptop or desktop, not wandering the countryside which is the POINT of LBS (location-based sevices) or geo-locational deals. They are the customers.

The apps and gizmos are REALLY geared for the locations to make use of. Most of your friends don't care if you checked into a restaurant, but that restaurant will- once they realize they have a decent tracking mechanism.

(And yes, I know that its a small percentage of locations/venues that are plugged into the locational stuff, but that is a growing market.)

Foursquare is countering with their own deals etc and as mentioned, it will not be difficult for MORE businesses etc to get on board.

Long term?

Foursquare and Facebook are essentially two markets of people for the most part. 4sq is clearly a mobile thing, while Facebook is behind the eightball, but with more users. Mobile growth is fairly certain so both need to get into it.

The second reason long term that Facebook isn't killing Foursquare just yet? Someone will come up with an easy way to do both. Even if FB PRECLUDES your 4sq checkins, there are always work- arounds: look at check.in.

Slow Death or Rebirth for Myspace?

Are we really watching the slow inevitable death of Myspace? With the integration with Facebook complete and the push towards what appears to be a mobile only function , isn't it time to call this one? One report says that Myspace is making $200 million less this year. They are functionally giving up on Myspace Music , which was always their bread and butter. Without the music tie in, why would people BOTHER with Myspace? I'm talking about it because my wife's band has used every medium known to mankind to promote themselves online and Myspace has been nothing but dead weight from the very beginning. Only bands and their most ardent fans go there. The rest are on Facebook. There is talk of selling Myspace, but who in their right mind would consider it? This will have some interesting implications for bands down the road. Many use Myspace as their de facto website, just pushing their domain name onto the customizable site. Now apparently, Reverbnation , a North Carolin

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast Such a fun time!

New Life

It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening. Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring. I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now. Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat. I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you need to b

Todd Lyden

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