I am a check-in junkie. I’ve tried Gowalla, Foursquare, Whrrl, Facebook Places and WeReward. I’m sure there are some other ones too and everyone has their favorite or hates them completely. There is the argument that you post your location then bad things will happen to yourself or your unprotected home. You just can’t go living your life in fear, that is ridiculous and my mind completely shuts off when someone comes up with that argument. Bad things happen whether you check in or not. That aside lets talk about the different check in options.
Foursquare is fun for a quick little check in and you can become mayor of things like your bathroom or something. You get funny badges for accomplishing little feats. You can check in to the same place with other people and talk about your experience. Foursquare is quick and the info you can share is pretty much text based. I’ve always wanted to be able to post photos to Foursquare but that isn’t happening.
Whrrl however is like Foursquare on steroids. You can check in and leave some comments about where you are. You can join check ins from other people and together you can share recommendations, photos and tips. During BlogWorld Expo a couple of weeks ago I primarily used Whrrl so that I could share more of my experience with my friends and followers. People can comment on any of the photos, comments or recommendations. You as a blogger can take that check in experience and add it to your blog easily. For example.
Each of those photos can be tweeted or not. Whrrl also incorporates hashtags so you can search on a hashtag and join the conversation around that topic. You can even join specific societies, groups built around a common purpose, and talk with other bloggers. And you can do this all on your phone. There are apps for the DROID, Blackberry and the iPhone
One really cool thing that Whrrl did at BWE was it set up a custom prize option for the Seagate Booth. When people checked in at that location at BWE they had the opportunity to win some great Seagate swag. I haven’t seen much like that from the other check in services.
If you have not tried Whrrl give it a … Well, you know.
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