A guy interviews with a company. The guy doesn't get the job.
Three years later, the guy sits down in a coffee shop. He pulls out his phone, opens the Foursquare app. Scans for nearby businesses. Sees that the company is right nearby. The guy leaves a tip on Foursquare about how much the company sucks anyway. The comment looks like it might have been left by a customer. Or an expert reviewer. Since the company is not a dining or entertainment establishment frequented by heavy Foursquare users, the tip lingers near the top of its venue page.
True story.
It's like drive-by yelping. There isn't much I can think of that can be done about it. Or about a bunch of dissatisfied strangers flashmobbing outside your windows -- they don't have to be inside to check in and leave tips -- and populating your venue page -- that Foursquare creates automatically for you and that probably ranks pretty high in search results -- with their grievances. There isn't a lot of context to these tips. There isn't an easy way to reply to them. Deleting them isn't easy either, and is probably not a good idea anyway.
So there, something else to add to your social media policies checklist.
Good thing there's still time before Foursquare becomes mainstream.
There is always defamation laws. Although it takes a critical mass to het the message out. And egos game to be the first?
ReplyDeleteBest solution. Crowd out the negative with (genuine) positive feedback.
Considering many venues have free wifi, it would be even harder to sue infringers.
ReplyDeleteBtw, i'm surprised that spammers (and pr0n sites) aren't abusing Foursquare or GoWalla notes/reviews.
Like Craig said, don't suck. If you do, admit it and move on.
ReplyDelete