Alexandra Harcharek will never forget the first time she was anointed the “mayor” of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia. It was an overcast Wednesday in April and she was driving to the city on her last day of an internship.Once she tasted “mayorship,” she was hooked. “Being the mayor of a major bridge — how cool is that?” said Ms. Harcharek, 21, who currently runs a food blog, afoodcoma.com. She was so excited by her “nerdy achievement” that she posted a Twitter message about it.
…
While Foursquare has been talked about in corporate boardrooms as the next big thing in social media — it has some 2.5 million users — it has also spawned a more trivial pursuit: a petty and vicious battle over virtual pieces of turf.Strangers are locked in bitter rivalries. Workplaces have been carved up into virtual battlefields. College campuses have become factionalized. Even some homes have become social media minefields.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/fashion/19foursquare.html