My new test in social search: the #AskFoursquare experiment

As you will no doubt have seen, Foursquare took location based social networks to another level this week. 

First it announced a deal with American Express where you earn points on your Amex card for Foursquare check-ins. Then it announced a new function in Foursquare, called Explore. 

Explore is HUGE for social networking. This is social search in action. 

Instead of your social network being a stream of updates, Foursquare Explore turns your search for anything into a window into your friends' or local area's word of mouth buzz. 

For example, from my office, I open up Foursquare Explore, and it tells me the coffee shops, restaurants, shops and so on that have reviews, tips and specials based on my social graph. (It says that Brill is very close and that is does a mean flat white, and that Spinach and Agushi has amazing Ghanaian curry with hot sauce). 

So here's my experiment

I am going to test out social search in my pocket until I can break it. I am going to spend the next week only going to places I find in my social graph. And whenever I want to look for somewhere to go, I won't go to a search engine. I'll use Foursquare. 

I'll update this blog post with my experiences, starting this Friday. And follow me on Twitter where I will be tweeting with the hashtag #AskFoursquare.

Wish me luck. 

Footnote: 

I have done some experiments like this in the past: I spent a week using Twitter and Facebook instead of Google, a week letting Twitter make all my decisions, and a week Whitewalling. So at least I'm learning from my mistakes. 

Comments

[Psigrist]

Nice spot Drew. I've been 'off the grid' for a week, but have been using the new Foursquare today. Firstly, it's now so easy to spot specials and your own To Dos that I've already discovered somewhere new today that was always on my doorstep, but I didn't know was there (Hummus Bros - awesome). And secondly, I'm going to join you and experiment - when not special hunting, I'm going to stick to my social graph. I look forward to seeing how you get on.

[MrMattAnderson]

Agree that this is a step in the right direction,one the novelty of aquiring pins wore off, but what about the quality of the content and the size of the network?

My point being that Yelp.com (massive audience in comparision to Foursquare) has already done this and has a huge database of reviews (plus a nifty iPhone app for checking in.)

Closer to home a very strong and conscientious community is Qype with over a 1million users (mostly in the UK).

Then there is also to groovy London based Rumble to throw into the mix.

What do you think?