I got hooked on Foursquare, the social networking iPhone OS application that allows you to “check-in” at the places you visit, by Judie back at CES. Judie, Dan and I had a fun time battling for mayorships of various locations in Las Vegas. I’ve been a frequent user of the app. since then too. But a worthy competitor to Foursquare has emerged, so worthy in fact that I find myself using Gowalla more.
Both Gowalla and Foursquare are iPhone OS applications that operate on the same basic principal. Using your device’s built in GPS the applications locate you and show places (things like stores, offices, gas-stations, restaurants) where you can check in to. The more often you check into a place the more things happen.
For Foursquare what happens is mayorship. If you become a frequent visitor to a specific location you’ll become the mayor of it. Sort of like the “king.” Other Foursquare users will see you’re the mayor when they visit and they’ll be trying to take your place.
Gowalla on the other hand uses an item reward system. By visiting places you accrue trinkets. You can drop ones at spots picking up others that users have left behind too.
Both applications are a lot of fun and a great way to take the monotony out of what can normally be an incredibly boring day of simply running errands.
Check out my video comparison of both of them in action below then head to the iTunes App. Store to download them both for free.
