The spread of smartphones and the real-time social web are pushing the importance of the moment, right now, toward infinity and reducing the importance of distance to zero. Where you are, in real-time, is what matters. Not how far away from Person/Place/Thing X. No one is capitalizing on this trend better than Foursquare.

Four months ago they had a total of 40 million user check-ins. Now, it's already grown to 185 million. One of my smartphone business models is: think locally scale globally. Foursquare is rapidly utilizing the crowd to build out a global database of local businesses, physical locations and people.

Another smartphone business model is: boring is death. Foursquare's users can interact, in real-time, with their surroundings, with friends and strangers, earn points and leverage an integrated virtual-physical information layer. Rather than sitting there, quietly.

I expect the service to continue to grow rapidly.

Wasn't Facebook Places supposed to destroy Foursquare?

When Facebook launched its new service, I wrote:

Foursquare has nothing to fear. Not even Facebook itself.

The size, scope and daily use of Facebook means that Facebook Places, which combines user location (check-in) with their Facebook friends and social graph, will destroy lesser location-based services. Not Foursquare. I expect Foursquare to actually benefit from Facebook Places because it's going to be much easier for Facebook users, which number in the hundreds of millions, to learn about, sign in and use the very well-made, well-positioned (I make joke) Foursquare.

Facebook continues to wisely leverage its user base, its understanding of its user base, and its infrastructure to not only make itself even more important in our daily lives. They are leveraging all their strengths to, wisely, build a massive, real-time, hyperlocal-hyperglobal ecosystem that supports other services. Foursquare need never be as big as Facebook (it won't ever be), but it can thrive in a Facebook world. And this new chart helps prove the case. Since the launch of Facebook Places, Foursquare's rate of growth has increased.

They just signed their 3 millionth user.

Om Malik has a great snapshot on the potential of Foursquare (or a similar service) to build a 'open' platform that combines retail points of presence, the notion of check-ins, developer APIs, smartphones, coupons and advertising. In short, this could remake local advertising -- something even Google hasn't been able to crack:

When I look at Foursquare and other such companies, I finally see a solution to the conundrum around local advertising. Everyone from Yahoo to Google has viewed local advertising (long the preserve of newspapers and yellow pages) with lustful eyes, with little or no success.

Over the past decade or so, I’ve watched numerous ill-fated attempts made to build media companies in order to cash-in on local advertising. Unless you’re in a big city like New York or Chicago or Houston, the local media market isn’t big enough to be a viable business proposition. Now imagine you had a platform big enough to encompass a lot of locations, married to an e-commerce platform and an army of local sales people: You can start to see the possibilities. The operative phrase here is “a platform that’s big enough...

Good stuff. That's a long road ahead, and Foursquare needs to get developers on board, their API must shine, user habits must continue to embrace the 'check-in', hundreds of thousands of retail outlets must sign up. All the big details and about a million little ones. Still, it's a solid vision and is viable. But I think it misses out on a critical element that without it, dooms this notion to fail:

Values

Yes, values. As in, I don't want to buy products made in China, for example (iPhone notwithstanding *cough*). Nor do I want to buy meat that contains antibiotics, for example. There's lots and lots of values that you and I and everyone else has. How are these reflected in Foursquare and other check-in apps?

And I think this is a very important point. For one thing, while I'm all for checking in to a spot to let family and friends know, I don't want to check-in to a place of business -- even if my smartphone/app handles this automatically -- because I probably don't want them to track me. More importantly, I WANT THE BEST DAMN PRICE PERIOD. I can get on my smartphone, from anywhere, including from inside a Best Buy, and check Amazon, check Tiger Direct, scan a barcode and instantly find the best price. Why on earth would some business tell me I have to *work*, to do some silly check-in and be a loyal user before they give me the best price? That's a service destined for the dust heap.

But what would work is a 'values' component. Then I would check in. Every time. Then I would tell the world I am at Clothing Store X. If I could let the world know, instantly, seamlessly, that I am here because it's a *good* price, not a deal, and they do not offer clothes made in sweatshops, say, I'd be more than happy to check in and even encourage others to join me right now. We could become a loyal flashmob!

Think about it: Ours is a world where anyone can get anything at anytime from anybody at anyplace. That is a zero sum game for business. And, ultimately, for buyers. But a business that stands for something -- that I care deeply about -- that promotes its values, that embeds its values into each point of presence, then you have something. Maybe by just checking in, the retailer, say an Apple store, will naturally give me the best price, always, but in addition, will automatically send $1 to the 'green tech' charity I have integrated with my Foursquare profile. Businesses could list their values, prices and the category of charities or the good deeds that they enable within their Foursquare settings.

Values matter. I believe that in business they will increasingly matter more and more. But if it's faux loyalty and silly promotions for coupons I shouldn't require, I have no use for it.

This reminds me of Thelma and Louise, as they speed toward the edge of the cliff...

Pepsi signs a big deal with Foursqare. Now, thanks to the wonders of technology, you can find out if the place you're at has Pepsi! You know, in case you really really need a Pepsi.

As the French would say, le stupid.

I can understand why Foursquare would want to sign up big pocketed sponsors. Hell, with their "youth" marketing campaign, I guess I can understand why Pepsi would want to get onto your cool, hip smartphones and social media platforms. But for them to sign up with Foursquare and pretend it's anything more than traditional brand adveritising doesn't wash.

Anywhere you go, with or without your smartphone, with or without Foursquare, you'll know if you're thirsty and you'll know if you want to quench that thirst with a soda pop and you'll know if you prefer Pepsi over Coke and you'll know if you'll choose Coke if they don't carry Pepsi -- and not go someplace else because they do.