Fascinating article about Dennis Crowley, co-founder of FourSquare - the popular location sharing iPhone/smartphone app.

“Crowley sees these video-game-style rewards as reason enough for Foursquare users to make more effort to explore the real world — and, in the process, to have more fun with their daily lives.”

CNN does a great job explaining the app for those who are unfamiliar, and provides a fascinating profile of Crowley, using FourSquare lingo to propel the article. Check it out, and sign up today! :)

(Thanks, Allison, for sharing!)

I became a FourSquare user on September 11, 2009, while visiting Austin for my interview for my current fantastic job at The University of Texas at Austin. My friend Tim had integrated his Twitter account with FourSquare, and introduced me virally to the location-sharing concept, which didn’t seem to have a large following at the time. Miami and Austin happened to be two of the fifteen cities allowing check-ins, so I continued the ‘game’ upon returning home - but it didn’t get interesting until I moved to Austin.

In March, FourSquare introduced an enhanced (and MUCH better) iPhone App during SXSWi in Austin, and the game exploded as thousands of people converged in Austin for the conference. This (older) article from Mashable highlights the reasons why I support location-sharing (within reason, and with considerable consideration for safety and privacy). I particularly like number five, as it relates to higher education.

Enjoy!

Mashable is one of my favorite sites, and I often find fantastic articles on social media by following their Twitter feed.

In this article, Mashable breaks down the top 700+ iPhone Apps reviewed on their site over the past year into several categories. I will definitely be checking out many of these apps over the next month!