Twitter Stream Quality & FourSquare Surfing.

I am a Twitter lover.

I tweet a good 20-plus times a day. There was a time when I would update my blog at least twice a day. But mama ain't got that kind of time anymore. So micro-blogging (i.e., Twitter) is where you can find my quips most days. However, my boss has had an issue with my tweets lately.

Immediately, I am sure you are thinking, "El Jefe is probably mad because you tweet so much from your iPhone during the day."

Well, you are wrong if you are thinking that. My job is actually to understand the habits and trends in the social space. And I can't very well understand them if I'm not tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, Digging, Buzzing, etc...

No. El Jefe's issue with my tweets is that the stream (which is what we call one's series of tweets) quality has become diluted.

"With what?" you may wonder.

With FourSquare.

FourSquare, to give a brief explanation, is a smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm) application that allows you to check-in and share your whereabouts with those that follow you. Yes, it does allow people to stalk you. But it's fun. And you earn points and badges for checking in to places repeatedly.

And... If you check in to a place enough times, you can become the "Mayor" of that place and have bragging rights. Currently, I am the Mayor of Bikram Yoga Bloor and of my workplace. And because my job is to help people "be found" online, I even created a "place" on FourSquare called "Being Found"... Which I am now the Mayor of too.

But, as a result of my favorite pastime while commuting to work, FourSquare Surfing (checking in at random places while riding past them on the bus), I am now the Mayor of two random apartments...

Don't know if these ladies realize that I checked in at their locations multiple times and became the Mayor of their domains... But I feel it makes for fun Twitter conversation. Which brings me to the main topic at hand...

Twitter Stream Quality.

El Jefe feels that all this "checking in" has gotten a bit silly. And if you follow me on Twitter, you will see that I like to check in at a lot of places. My FourSquare feed is connected to my Twitter account. And so every time I check in some place, it posts it to my Twitter feed for all to see.

El Jefe feels that all these FourSquare check-ins make for a less exciting Twitter stream to read. He has threatened to stop following me.

But I know he won't do that. Because it is a very useful way for him to keep tabs on me... See when I arrive to work. When I leave. When I take a coffee break to go to Starbucks throughout the day.

If anything, he should be grateful for the dilution of my Twitter stream. The company at large should be too.