Has some version of this cluttered up your Twitter stream lately?

Pete Cashmore, Social Media Maven, founder and CEO of @Mashable, and new blogger at CNN.com, wrote a very interesting article recently. In it he carefully makes the case for FourSquare as possibly the next big thing in Social Media since Twitter. I heard of FourSquare a long time ago, but thought I was too cool for things like Twitter back then, and never considered giving it a shot.

I’ve read through the article twice now, was a bit intrigued, and before hitting the road yesterday after work, tried to download the application for my iPhone.

I can’t. Well, that’s not entirely true. I can download the app if I want to, but I’d have to lie about where I live, in order to finish signing in, and to participate in the game. You see, there’s a very limited drop-down menu of what I am sure are exciting cities to live in. I just don’t live in one of them. Or even near one of them.

Oh, I am sure that Amsterdam has a lot of great cafes I could sip a nice latté in. I have no doubt I could find a banging nightclub in Bangkok, and could bust a move until people laughed at me in unison. I hear that Dubai is pretty hot these days (no pun intended.) Hell, I’d even down shots with the cool people in Hong Kong if I could…

FourSquare is Limited in Geographical Scope, Guys

So there I was, sitting in my now idling car, with a new download that I’ll eventually delete from my iPhone before the next sync. Why couldn’t I just find and add my little city, or even one of the small-to-medium ones a short drive away? How about that nice Cajun restaurant/nightclub 25 miles away, where I am sure I’ll never run into one of Mashable’s tech-savvy folks? Thanks, Pete...

Out of a possible 10,016 big and little cities in the United States alone, FourSquare works with 48 of them (I am assuming when they listed Rome, they didn’t mean Rome, N.Y…..) So 1/2 of 1% U.S. coverage by an Internet-based application meant to bring people together in fellowship. Wow. I’d help spread that further, but I can’t, because FourSquare won’t let me…

Is FourSquare’s Concept Unique?

On the drive home, I thought about what a great concept FourSquare was. Then I realized I wasn’t thinking about FourSquare at all anymore. I was thinking about the Concept. Were there other applications that exceeded the 0.5% reach already, and could be used in the same way that FourSquare bills itself?

Read Pete’s article all the way through. He’s a brilliant guy, and I have to give him credit where due, because he alludes to the precarious position that FourSquare holds as possible contender for next year’s Social Media Superstar….

Twitter’s Users Already Use the Concept of FourSquare

For most of us, when we log off and head out the door, we don’t tend to include in the trip or where we go the people we met on Twitter. But I have seen on Twitter more signs of Tweet-ups, or groups of Twitter friends/followers from one area or city, meeting up and enjoying each other’s company. And by the way, Twitter is everywhere. Even dogs have twitter accounts, guys. Betcha they tweetup and hookup all the time now because of it. They’re laughing at you FourSquare lovers with your fancy, opposing thumbs.

Geolocation is King

Geolocation is a big word for “Where you are, right now.” This sort of information is typically hidden from those people we know in Social Media, because the concept sounds too much like we are inviting everyone to follow us home at night. When we do allow an application to turn this on, it can find us based on our computer’s IP (Internet Protocol) Address, or using the GPS emitter on our phone. And it’s pretty darn accurate.

The use of Geolocation information has been recently made available by Twitter to third-party applications. So expect applications like Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Twitpic, and others soon to ask you if you want to share this. If you say yes, when you send out tweets or photos, people will know from a marker on a map exactly where you are. In other words, Twitter just shot a big hole in FourSquare’s boat… Didn’t that sound cool? Makes me sound all Social Media Maven-ish.

Fun is Queen

Queen. Ha. I’m running with the whole card concept… Pete’s article refers to FourSquare as “highly addictive gameplay” and I am sure it is, if you live in a city that is cooler than mine. And go out often. And go to the same places over and over. How about trying out that Thai place for once, before your girlfriend dumps you…

Social Media games are growing rapidly, both in MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter. We all see the automated status updates, tweets and even Direct Messages from those we follow, slipping in because they think others want to know if they killed someone in Mafia Wars or baked a pizza in Cafe World. Those that fail to turn off the clutter play with us a Social Media equivalent of Whack-a-Mole. DM. Block. Tweet. Block. Status Update. Block.

In order to move up in FourSquare, you have to work at it. You need to frequent your favorite places often, checking in to them using your phone’s app. Sort of like the alcoholic equivalent of the Looney Tunes Wolf and Sheepdog. You gain points for showing up, for leaving your two cents about the place, and for bringing others with you (who you talked into having the app on their phones, too.) The more points you receive, the more pretty badges you get, on display for all to see. And you get to tweet those earned badges out to everyone. Tweet. Block. That’s right, during my silence perhaps you can create some paper equivalents of those badges in bright colors to actually wear around your very cool city…

The Benefits of Being Mayor

Play FourSquare loyally, and you move up through the chain established at a particular joint, becoming quite the authority on it. People might recognize your face and say hello when they show up. The love abounds. Visit more than anyone else, and you can become “Mayor,” receiving free drinks, entrees and sexual favors. I made up that last one.

Twitter Tweetups, Anywhere

Okay, in Twitter you don’t get any badges, earn any points, and don’t get to be Mayor, Councilman, President or Prime Minister of anything. Unless you already are one of those in real life, or are pretending to be. But you can schedule and attend those Tweet-ups I mentioned earlier, letting trusted friends know via DM where you’re going, and inviting them. And with the new Geolocation feature, you can use an iPhone app that tells them exactly how to get there. And you know what? You can do this anywhere in the World with Internet access and your phone. Even in my small town, or the one next door we all like to laugh at, because they don’t even have a McDonald’s yet… That’s right, we are laughing at you again.

Twitter Will Eat FourSquare’s Lunch. Pete and I will go have Sushi

I know I’m not a Social Media Superstar, like Pete Cashmore. He’s worked hard to achieve that status, and he deserves it. I love reading the very cool articles his team finds and tweets out. He writes great pieces himself. And I am sure he would be a lot of fun on that dance floor in Bangkok. I’m willing to go next time you want to take me…

I think Twitter has incorporated many of the best features of FourSquare, and we tweeters will make it fun on our own. It will grow on its own, be supported by Twitter’s great team, and 3rd party apps will figure out ways to capitalize on Twitter’s API to support Tweetups. Businesses will use our exposed Geolocations (Exposed Geolocations. Ha.) to find us nearby and offer up coupons or savings to entice us into their stores or restaurants. And we’ll do it in the little backwoods corners of the Earth, without those stinkin’ badges.

Just stop following me home already, okay? It’s really creeping me out…

AFTERTHOUGHT: I was contacted today by the makers of an application called Flook, which allows its users to create “cards” about a location anywhere they have an Internet connection, simply by taking a photo with their iPhone and providing a commentary. This can be then tweeted out. When another person gets near a “Flooked” location, they are alerted, and can see all of the previous “cards” made about it by others. They can flip through the cards to learn more, or comment back…