Facebook, in an effort to be more like Google+, has upgraded their friend lists. Now you have more control over who sees which status updates, links and posts that you put on the site.
That’s nice and all, but you know who really needs friend lists? Foursquare. The fact that all your Foursquare friends can see all your checkins (unless you check in off the grid, and then what’s the point?) can lead to problems. Let’s look at a few examples where friend lists would be useful:
1) Friends who live in South Main invite me to a cookout on the parking lot of their South Main condo. When I check in, I’d want my “Close Friends” list to see it. However, out of respect to my hosts, I might not publish the checkin to my “Acquaintances” list, to prevent people from thinking it’s a public party and showing up.
2) If you go out and meet your buddies on a Saturday afternoon at the bar for a few beers, you might choose to publish that checkin to the “Close Friends” and “Acquaintances” list, but not to the “Wife” or “Girlfriend” list.
3) Suppose you and your friends plan a long weekend in New Orleans, but you don’t have any vacation time left. So you call in sick on Friday. When you get down there and check in at a bar on Bourbon at 3 PM, you could publish it to your “Close Friends” and “Acquaintances” lists, but you’d sure want to hide it from your “Co-Workers” list.
4) When someone you know friends you on Foursquare, it can put you in a difficult spot. You don’t want to hurt their feelings by refusing their request, but if you accept it, then that person knows where you are. That’s not a good thing, if you don’t want them showing up wherever you happen to be. Lists would eliminate that problem. I could check in at the Saucer, and my “Close Friends” and “Acquaintances” lists would know I’m there if they want to meet up. However, I could hide it from my “Guy Who Follows Us Around” list.
5) A female in a relationship gone bad, knowing the guy would flip out if she went as far as to de-friend him, could create a “Stalker” list and not publish checkins to it.
I hope friend lists are in the works at Foursquare. They’d add value to the service, just as friend lists and circles have added value to Facebook and Google+.
Not enough news to merit a “Friday update” post today. I was going to post a link to a hilarious Wikipedia entry about R.C. Johnson, but someone went in and changed it. The only other thing I have is that I discovered an additional bar that has the NFL all-games package: The Russwood Park Grill, inside the Holiday Inn on Union. Probably not as much fun to watch games there as Max’s Sports Bar, but if you’re in the core and looking for something close, it’s an option.
Going to take it easy tonight to rest up for Cooper-Young Fest. If anyone wants to split a cab out there from the Downtown core about 11 tomorrow morning, hit me up.