Foursquare for the college kids

The seasoned Foursquare user is discreet. Upon arriving anywhere, she pulls out her smart phone and in a few deft movements, is checked-in.

I am by no means seasoned, but I recently became Mayor of a popular coffee shop on campus. I was proud of my mayorship and continued to buy overpriced coffee there every morning to maintain my status.

One day I told the guy behind the counter about my mayorship.

Foursquare's been over for a while already, he said dryly.

Time to reconsider. Is it over?

In the fall of 2010, Foursquare launched Foursquare for Universities, which lets students, staff and alumni of a particular school connect over the virtual network. It plays by the same rules as the regular Foursquare -- points, mayorships, badges -- but gives students more opportunities to explore the campus, receive special offers and leave tips.

Syrcause University, the alma mater of Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, was one of the first to adopt the location-based app for the campus.

Since then, more than 20 universities, including Harvard, Duke, Stanford and Arizona State universities, have partnered with Foursquare and created unique school badges. The universities manage campus venues such as dining halls, dormitories and academic buildings and create lists and special deals for students.

Users can earn points and university badges such as Bookworm Bender earned for check-ins into study spaces after midnight, Munchies for check-ins at dining facilities and Smells Like School Spirit for check-ins at sports venues.

The Hats Off badge was just added to the collection this spring for graduates around the country to unlock. At Arizona State University, graduates earned the badge last week if they checked in to the graduation event with the hashtag #asugraduation.

The schools have seen a large follower base since the launch. Syracuse currently has close to 39,000 followers, a number that has been "tremendously growing," Kate Brodock, executive director of digital and social media at Syracuse, said.

"People are coming to campus knowing about Foursquare, and our social media team has done a great job getting the student body into Foursquare," she said. Syracuse has been thinking "outside the box" to create new lists for visitors such as "Ghost Buildings" and "Best Places to Catch the 'Cuse." She added that the university monitors lists and user tips for accuracy and appropriateness with the overall university brand.

The official ASU badge -- a Sun Devil superfan badge -- was launched in August 2011, and the school currently has about 40,000 followers. ASU students can earn the badge by checking into a certain amount of venues on the university's four campuses. They can also create and view lists -- bucket lists before graduation, what to do on a Friday night, best eats on campus.

The service, or game, has been a huge success, said Natasha Karaczan, a media relations spokesperson at ASU.

Some schools, like the University of Pennsylvania, are currently considering whether to join the Foursquare university network.

Dana Tom, an incoming senior at UPenn and active user said Foursquare for Universities may not really affect her. "Maybe it's not worth the effort, based on how many people I believe are on Foursquare," she said.

She mainly uses it to see what her friends are up to and doesn't pay too much attention to tips and lists. She already checks in quite frequently -- she has 10 mayorships and 59 badges.

She began using Foursquare in the summer of 2010 to keep in touch with friends. When she was reunited with her friends in the fall, "then it become more of a competition," she said. And now she discreetly check ins everywhere she goes, out of habit.

But in the end, it is just a game. Author and game designer Jane McGonigal, a big proponent of using the structure and mentality games to fix society's problems, says Foursquare is a good game to get people out of the house for new experiences, discoveries and adventures.

"It's a game that rewards you for doing new things, and making a better effort to be social," she writes in her book, Reality is Broken. And that's what makes checking-in so fun, rewarding and meaningful.

I will continue to check in to the coffee shop to guard my mayorship.

For ASU graduates, before earning the graduation badge, they had to check in to the Real World.

Julie Xie is a Summer 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.Follow her on Twitter at @julieyinxie

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.