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I’ve been using foursquare since October and for the first couple of weeks I didn’t really find it that interesting. However, after using if for the past 5 months, I’m addicted and I’m now a checking-in fool. For those that don’t know, foursquare is a location-based social networking website where users “check-in” at venues they visit.

Jeff Hilimire just blogged about the reasons he’s down on foursquare and why he’s already tired of it. After reading his blog, I decided to put together a counter-blog of the reasons why I’m digging foursquare and why I think Jeff is off the mark.

1. It’s a great way to learn about new places. As Jeff points out in his blog, it can get boring checking in to the same places each day, but there is a flip side to that because I get to see where my friends are checking-in and learn about new places. For example, I’m a regular (and mayor) of Chick-fil-A and Blimpie near the office, but I’ve learned of several new places to eat in Midtown just from where my friends have checked-in.

2. Tips – I’ve used Yelp in the past to read reviews on places I’m about to visit, but what’s so frustrating about Yelp is that most of the reviews are soooo long. I’m really not interested in reading about someone’s entire experience written out in multiple paragraphs. What’s so great about foursquare is that the tips are quick and to the point. I like the fact that after checking-in to a venue I can see the tips that other users have left: the best things to eat, special deals, etc.

3. Mayorships – So, how do you become mayor of a venue? All you have to do is check-in to a venue more than anyone else, on separate days, (you’ve got to have a profile photo too), and you will be crowned “Mayor” of that venue. This has created some friendly competition at local places where mayorships change from week to week. Some venues are even offering exclusive deals for mayors.

4. Badges – If you don’t visit venues frequent enough to become mayor, you can still earn badges. Badges are rewards users can earn for checking-into certain places (e.g., checking into the gym 10 times in 30 days will land you the Gym Rat badge). Currently there are 98 foursquare badges and I’m sure foursquare will be adding more badges to the list in the future. So, unless you’re a rock star or a celebrity, it’s pretty hard to max out on the badges.

5. It’s not complicated. I’ve tried other “check-in” apps (MyTown, Gowalla, Whrrl, Loopt) and in my opinion, foursquare has the right balance between the features: check-in functionality, social, and the fun stuff (mayorships, badges).

6. Connect to Twitter and Facebook. Foursquare gives you the options to connect both Twitter and Facebook to your foursquare account and you can decide when you check-in to a venue if you want to post to those channels or not. When I post to Twitter and/or Facebook I try to add some context around what I’m doing when I check-in at a venue. I do agree that there needs to be some etiquette in how many times you update both channels with how often you check-in because I really don’t need to know that you checked in to Racetrac to get gas for your car.

For those that use foursquare, what has your experience been like using the app? Like it? Hate it? If you’ve never used foursquare, give it a try for a few weeks and let me know what you think. Just remember, what happens on foursquare…