“What do you think is the next big thing?” I was asked at an interview in August. I should probably have talked at length about my curiosity over Scvngr – albeit a slightly shit app, it’s a nice location-based treasure-hunt idea that interests me – but I did not. I had a think and stared at a tree.

“Well, I can’t see any of my friends getting into Twitter or Foursquare,” said I, thinking of Aidan who is buying an HTC Desire because it is new and swish. I meanwhile got it because I do, in short, want to tweet on my every whim and be a geek about it all. My housemates like raves and funny videos, and do not much care about social media beyond Facebook. I mentioned Foursquare in Wagamamas once and saw their eyes glaze over as a little barrier went up. They sipped saki and nodded.

In this clever visual metaphor, I am the dinosaur

But then I thought hard, because I am not used to waxing lyrical about the next big thing or predicting the future. I can – if anything – see my housemates checking in for burger deals over 140 character microblogs any day. That said, they’re not about to join in a shoe-chasing game or leap on Nike’s latest effort of physical exertion, but that is because they fit their stereotype of people who like raves and funny videos, and neither of the above. But give them a drinks deal through foursquare and twitter, and foursquare’d win.

And this surprised me, because apparently I get excited about what’s hip and wow for early-adopter types, and I don’t believe this post is a brilliant new idea of any kind (I still want to think and keep thinking, about the original question itself) but I realised I forget to get excited about what’s new for people who aren’t early-adopters: i.e. what’s big for Average Man (‘Dave’ I’ve heard him called), which is something I’d never noticed. Hopefully some day it’ll be more like “foursquare good, twitter better!” though, and I can continue a tirade of Animal Farm puns.

I meanwhile, in some vague personal triumph over my grumpy will, have finally downloaded Foursquare because I subscribe to the idea that if you work in social media you need to be active in social media. Maybe next time I’ll get over my grievances and hop on the bandwagon quicker. It’s a pity though, that I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s not much keeping people coming back to use the service (argue of that what you will).

That said, I’ve unlocked the Overshare badge already. I could kick myself.

@tobytriumph is coming to draw on the walls. He has a website unsurprisingly called tobytriumph.com and did the illustrations for hopfarm.comwhich are nice. We got asked for suggestions. I would like a diplodocus stegosaurus. I have drawn him with some shoes.