Foursquare, the Final Frontier: Just Who Checked In from North Korea?

  • Share
  • Read Later

POOL/Reuters/Corbis

Either Kim Jong Il  is social media savvy, or someone is in trouble.

Foursquare, a social network that allows users to earn badges and discounts for sharing their location, is everywhere — literally.

(Read “Foursquare’s Twist on Facebook.”)

The site, which grew 3400% in 2010, now boasts six million users who’ve ‘checked in’ a total of 381,576,305 times. That includes visits from some far-fetched places, including outer-space and North Korea.

The visit from space is relatively easy to explain: Last autumn NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock checked in from 220 miles above the earth, earning himself the ‘NASA Explorer’ badge and the admiration of geeks everywhere.

But it’s harder to imagine who is ‘checking in’ from the Hermit Kingdom. Despite his nuclear ambitions, the country’s aging autocrat, Kim Jong Il, is not known for his technological prowess. Nor is he a fan of free speech.

So, while it might be nice to imagine this as a digital bridge to the DPRK, it seems unlikely one of Kim’s cowed comrades checked in of their own accord.  (Via Wired)

(See a photo essay on the iconography of Kim Jong Il.)