Today I am commenting on "Are we too damn British for Foursquare?" by Mary Shivers.

My first reaction was not that we are too British, but that we are not American enough. American culture is very insular and gives little consideration to the needs or cultures outside America. In fact the whole of western culture is slowly being assimililated... (Americanised) by American culture, perhaps eventually it will be lost forever. For example, Facebook is available in three types of English:  English (US), English (pirate), and English (upside down) - what about British English? But that's another subject altogether.

I then read more of this post and Mary says British privacy concerns could be an excuse for avoiding change, a reason to justify pushing back against anything new. I'm not sure if that is right either but I think it is far closer to the answer. I believe the British media - said to be the most invasive (perhaps most sensationalist) in the world - have a lot to answer for, scaring many people into believing every other person on the internet is a scary monster of some kind, which itself is perhaps just reflecting British attiudes back at British people. So maybe Mary is right.

The only problem I've found with Foursquare, apart from the lack of local people, is that most people wanting to be friends with me live thousands of miles away. Why would I want to know where they are visiting (unless I know them well already)?!! They just want more followers to boost their ego, or to advertise something.

One game I am very much enjoying on my iPhone is the Google-maps based game called MyTown. Thanks to this game, I have found many places and small businesses literally around the corner from me but which I did not before know even existed. MyTown is a fantastic way to get to break the ice with local people that you don't know yet.