Recently in class we talked about Foursquare users becoming "Mayor" of a location and not actually visiting that location often. I just read a post on Mashable.com discussing Foursquare's attempts to eliminate this issue. They had first allowed users only to check in via their mobile device and it's GPS locator.
This then created the problem of people checking in from nearby. If my parking space is beside the McDonald's for example; I might check in 4 times a day, become mayor and earn a a gang of free coffees or a whole passle of the McRib (should it ever return). Foursquare has now given business owners the ability to oust the current mayor giving the title to the next in line if they know that someone is doing this. This is a great idea because the power to market the business and give perks should be in the hands of the business owner anyway!
http://mashable.com/2010/11/02/foursquare-lets-businesses-out-mayors/
Interesting way to monitor who becomes mayor. I am not super familiar with Foursquare,but it seems like users have worked really hard to find loop holes. Do you think this will influence incentives given? I would be curious to know if they will implement a 'term limit' on a mayor. Good information.
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