Foursquare addicts will know how desirable that mayor badge is (congratulations Josh, Guardian mayor as of yesterday morning) and so it follows that Foursquare has launched a store selling real badges, stickers and Foursquare T-shirts.
It's a big win for Foursquare, which gets a new if modest revenue stream on the side (five badges for $5, 10 stickers for $5 or $20 for a T-shirt) and valuable advertising among the geek fraternity.
Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley got Foursquare cookies from his mum for his birthday in June – but those aren't for sale through the Foursquare store just yet. Photo by dpstyles on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
For players, it's taking the status game into the real world, and everyone likes a good badge. Though you could argue they are more prestigious when 'earned' by visiting tech conferences. Cafepress gave brands (or anyone, in fact) the ability to sell their own branded stuff years ago, so there's nothing new in that. But Foursquare is right on the meme.
In 10 years, these might be geek collectors' items on eBay. Or we will long since have forgotten about Foursquare, which was taken over by Facebook/Yahoo/Google and then evaporated. But there's a nice idea for a little startup earner all the same.
