I'm in Heaven! via Foursq #socialglitch
This week’s
#socialhacking mission: Create a
social glitch involving technology.
September 12th, 2013 @9am
I created a location on Foursq as "Maldives" near by ITP and also linked pictures of Maldives via Instagram.
People are totally thinking that I am in Maldives!
Especially on Instagram, people are convinced that I am on a honeymoon (I got hitched 3 weeks ago). They hate me right now, as my Maldives pictures are insanely perfect. I feel bad but at the same time, this is HILARIOUS #sorrynotsorry. My friends who see me everyday are not responding anything to this. They must think, what is she doing, my friend is so weird.
Social glitch may be interpreted in different ways. My interpretation of social glitch is when there is an error in the society. It's when your reaction of someone’s behavior/action is 'huh?’. Glitch is something that you are not expecting. That is why is embarks a question, an idea or conversations.
I started to feel really guilty after 6hours.. I felt like a big fat liar. So the next day, I printed out the same picture I posted on Instagram, took a picture of the picture and checked in again. The response was not very energetic as my last posts. Taking a picture of a picture idea might have been too forced.
Beginning of my idea:
Everything that happens on my phone is not my real world. So why not dream a little further?
What would happen if I create an imaginary place that I always wanted to go to like Maldives in New York City?
Foursquare location lets you to make a location spot anywhere. Just like Wikipedia, it is build upon trust of people. We all try to check-in at a right spot on the exact time you were at. Even though no body is monitoring to see if you were actually at the location.
Would people get confused by this or play along? Would I look like a liar or axed out of the community for giving a deceiving information?
Strategy:
I explored a social experiment and documented down below:
- Create locations where you wish to be, on Foursq.
- Post a beach picture of Maldives via Instagram and check-in on Foursq.
Things to watch out:
- Don't lie. Don't say that you are actually at Maldives.
- Give cheeky hints to give an impression that this is a light humor.
How to push it further:
This experiment is causing a lot of confusion to my FourSquare & Instagram friends. It might take some time for the public to feel comfortable to play along with this game. I am encouraging people to do this experiment with me and have more people involved.
I created more spots (such as Seychelles and Maldives Villa) in the City . I want to create a lot more and hide these spots across NYC for people to find them like treasure hunts.
Some of the feedback I got from my friends were interesting.
One incidence, my friend and her boyfriend were in an argument about whether I was in a honeymoon or not. They were arguing for awhile and looked at my location again to find that I was in Manhattan. They laughed about it. I am glad I am not giving positive vibe to people :)