Currently I’m testing both Foursquare and Gowalla. These tools enable me to check-in at locations I visit. In an interactive way I’m investigating my own neighbourhood and unknown cities. The competition part of the applications make it even more funny to use. By visiting a location often you can become the Major of that side on Foursquare. Of course people already started faking their check-ins to gain points. Therefore, Foursquare decreased the distance from the spot to login. And to prevent further abuse they hired the Foursquare Cops (LOL!)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4rfzYul9O8
I'm trying to decide between foursquare and gowalla too. For me it seems, that Foursquare is more popular in the North America and Gowalla is more common in Europe. For example, I can't see any action for Gdansk in 4sq, but I see a lot of spots in Gowalla. As far as I know, Foursquare has 4x larger userbase that Gowalla (400 000 vs 100 000).
For sure Foursquare manages to attract way more attention. Their rewarding
part is for sure better. For me too often it takes a too long time before
Foursquare comes up with a location. In general Gowalla is faster for me. If
I'm not wrong Gowalla is also launching a loyalty system soon. The one with
the best funding will in the end win I think. Currently that seems to be
Foursquare.