So here we are. About a year into FourSquare, and for this user, it’s living up to its name – it is square. Boring. And 99% of the time, not worth my while.

Make no mistake, I tell businesses all the time that they must be on FourSquare. And they should. Because there is a large demographic out there using FourSquare, so for the minimal effort that it takes for a company to establish its presence on it, shops and restaurants can’t afford to miss out on the craze.

But for me, unless it’s worth my effort to load the program, enter my location or search amongst a list of nearby places and then check in, my interest has already checked out. It’s that simple. This is because I use it differently from, let’s say, college kids who use the program not just to check in but to also see where their other friends are at in case they want to bolt for a better venue.

I already get that out of Twitter, though.

Locations that offer specials and use their FourSquare as an almost virtual punch-card to reward loyal customers, now those are places I still bother to check in to on FourSquare. But badges? I don’t need no stinking badges. Badges don’t put extra beers in my belly or get me one step closer to a discount on my next cup of coffee. I collected baseball cards as a kid, because I could trade them with other friends and could use them to make my bicycle sound like a motorcycle.

FourSquare doesn’t let you swap badges with other users. Not to mention, I can’t put FourSquare badges in my spokes, thus rendering them pretty much useless to Adult Bruce.

And being mayor of locations only interests me if it means unlocking benefits that I can’t get as a “normal” patron of said-location. When I was unemployed, I was the mayor of two coffee shops and a gym. Being mayor didn’t make my muscles any bigger or my coffee any stronger. And so, my interest quickly waned.

It doesn’t help that FourSquare is like the roach motel in that you can check in, but you can’t check out. So it may look like you’re still having drinks at the corner bar, causing your friends to drive across town to surprise you, only to find you left hours ago and are already home and sawing logs in bed.

When all is said and done, in its current form, FourSquare is just too one-dimensional for me to care enough about it. The “competitive” game aspect of it isn’t realized-enough, in my opinion, and needs to be developed more if it wants to be anything more than a glamorized magnet you buy when driving through a state to prove you were there.

So those of you who regularly use FourSquare and enjoy it, I’d love to hear from you. I’m certainly not opposed to the concept of FourSquare. I’m just looking for that what else can it do? to bring me back in. What are some other ways that you use FourSquare, giving it replay value? Or has that bright shiny object lost its luster for you, too?

Bruce is a Mobile Media Specialist at Roll Mobile. He is a lover of good music, bad puns and ugly sweater vests. Want to learn more about adding mobile components to complement your existing marketing strategies? Or have a BLOG@ROLL topic you’d like us to explore?

Contact bruce@whyroll.com or on Twitter via @RollMobile.

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