Settled! Now let's work on 4Square

Thoughts on 4Square business Model:

Found really interesting a comment posted last 5 Aug from one of the founders, on their business model just a couple of months after their launch , it's exactly what I admire of their idea:

"There are a ton of branding and marketing opportunities and we’re approached by people all the time — sponsored badges, sponsored mayorships, etc.,” Crowley told me. “What [co-founder] Naveen [Selvadurai] and I feel really good about is building two things at once — things that make it easier/more fun for our users explore the city (tips, finding friends, badges) and things that make it easier for venues to reach out to their most loyal/vocal/early-adopter users. For example, it would cost $5 for a restaurant to give my brother a free dessert for being mayor, but with Foursquare linked to Twitter (read word-of-mouth), that $5 could go a long way towards driving people to that venue. The local ad market has long been underserved — and that means one thing to a lot of companies (e.g., finding nearby doctors and dentists and lawyers and lawn care, etc.) but something different to us (cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars)." link

I believe that the small local grocery store is one of the most valuable hidden spot we must preserve. and they are threatened by all of these Mall and Commercial Centers. I hate that.
In my home city, there you can find the most precious, traditional, home made raw ingredient for our Granmother's recipies. Everything that can help those small niche market to rose, it's welcomed here.
4 Square is a good way for this. You can get and share information of really good products sold somewhere in your city, and on the other hand the little unknow store has a powerful tool to really unveil the quality of their goods, service, rarities.

And the fidelity part driven by all the badge, mayors, titles that you can obtain is a fantastic way to boost the application and their benefit to the next level, encouraging the usage of 4Sq.

If you have to pay for these services with a small amount of time and a bit of privacy, i may say quoting Machiavelli that " il fine giustifica i mezzi (The end justifies the means)"