I’ve never been a huge fan of location based social media such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, or Loopt. I’ve tried using Foursquare a little and ended up checking in about once a month. To me, I don’t really care all that much that my friends “checked into” their office or the grocery store.
As a fan of drinking beer, I’m a little behind the times though as there is a similar social network that was designed just for us beer drinkers that launched towards the end of last year called Untappd, which makes much more sense to me to use.
What I like about it is that you check into beer instead of specific places (although you can include that if you want to). So if I’m drinking a Pliny the Elder, I can check into that and it keeps track of the different beers I’ve had. Then my friends can discuss that beer with me if they want to. It takes drinking beer to a whole new social level.
Not only does it make it social, but you also earn badges much like Foursquare. The main difference though is you have to drink beer to earn your badges which I don’t mind doing. It adds a level of accomplishment to your beer drinking.
One other feature that I like about it is the beer wish list. You can setup a list of the beers you want to try and check them off when you drink them. For guys like me with a bad memory, I appreciate that feature quite a bit.
The only downfall I see with Untappd is that they make you check in on your mobile phone so you can’t check in on your computer. I drink beer quite often at home and it would be much easier to just jump on the computer.
Check it out if you haven’t yet and add me as a friend at http://untappd.com/user/blogaboutbeer.
Are you on Untappd? Do you find it useful?