I joined another social network about a month ago called Foursquare, thanks to a facebook friend I met about a year ago. Incidentally, this facebook friend lives about three miles away from me. We’re not just blowing smoke up each others butts through cyberspace. Had it not been for facebook, I probably wouldn’t have gotten to know this guy at all.

Here’s a web address to Foursquare, https://foursquare.com/, so you can see what it’s all about (for some reason the link won’t work). I think you can either use an iPhone or an Android to do this. After fifteen years of having the same cell phone plan, and basically the same cell phones which I upgraded every two years when I signed a new contract, I decided to switch to an iPhone and I’m starting to really enjoy it.

From what I’ve gathered so far, Foursquare is a social network about locations, linking people together all over the world. I’m just starting out and I don’t have as many friends as other people on Foursquare. But I saw that one of my friends is my good blogging buddy, Mary Gersham, and a few other people I’ve known online for a while. And, just to keep it real, I’ve met other local people in my area just through Foursquare. One of them is a really nice guy who owns furniture business near Princeton, NJ, which isn’t far from where I live. He’s also a very hot guy, too. But that’s another story for another post.

Now, if your only goal with social media is to promote yourself as an author…or as anything else…I’m not sure Foursquare is the right social network for you. But then again, if you’re only using social media to promote yourself, you’re missing the entire point of social media and you probably shouldn’t be there in the first place. The sad fact is that while people might want to get to know you as a person on social media, they couldn’t care less about the book you wrote until they get to know you. This is huge mistake I’ve seen authors do since social media started getting popular. And there’s nothing more annoying than receiving a private message or a blunt announcement that says something to the effect of “Read my book, etc…” The first thing I do when I see these things is delete. I’m sure others do the same thing, too.

But Foursquare seems to be fun. You can “check in” to destinations wherever you are. I stopped at my local Farm Market last Sunday, Maximucks, which is located, literally, in the middle of nowhere, and I was able to check in there. The owners were stunned they were even on Foursquare. You can also become “mayor” if you check in often enough. I think you can go even higher than that. You receive points, and information about dining out. And if you travel a lot, I would imagine it can come in handy in more ways than one.

I’ll post more about it as I learn more about it. Right now I’m still at that stage where I’m learning the basics and making a few mistakes. I have “badges” and I’m not sure how to use them. But you can follow me there with my name, Ryan Field.