You may have been directed to this page by me because you complained about my use of social media / gamification / check-in apps like Gowalla, foursquare, GetGlue, or similar. I understand that you think these apps just produce a lot of noise and only exist for marketing purposes. More than that, I empathize with you. Left to my own devices I would probably not use them. There are two reasons I persist.

Reason the First: I write both web and mobile-based applications, largely for the travel and tourism industries. These “check-in” social media applications are understandably of great interest to my clients. When a client of mine says “you know, something like Gowalla” I better know what they are talking about. For the cynical among you, yes: I just said I use these noisemakers because I need to help make more of them. Which brings me to:

Reason the Second: I know it’s not your cup of tea. As I’ve already said, it’s not particularly mine. But other people have fun with them, and I support people having fun. I don’t feel bad about making more of these apps any more than I’d feel bad about making a banking website for a bank I don’t belong to or writing a video game for the teenager I neither have nor am. If these kinds of things irritate you unduly, then feel free to filter them out of your social media stream. But don’t ask your friends and family to change how they play because you don’t find it entertaining. Frankly, that’s a bit rude.

If you would like to read a thoughtful critique of location-based social media games, see Ben Dodson’s post on gamification and social validation.