Is foursquare the next Twitter?

Just about once a year, I get really excited about a new piece of technology. I begin to use it constantly and ask my friends to do the same.

In 2006, I had that moment with Google Reader. In 2007, I began to obsess about Twitter. Last year, I completely fell for my Kindle.

For me, 2009 is looking like the year of foursquare.

Laid out with rules like a game, this application helps us explore the cities where we live and offers rewards (in the form of points, badges, and titles) for being social. As your friends join the service, you find yourself following their adventures as well. This might be strange to say about a web app, but foursquare makes me want to be a more interesting person.

And I’m not the only one who believes in the potential of the service.

Mashable says:

Foursquare’s very much in the same boat as Twitter was two years ago. The early adopters have started to drink the kool-aide, myself included, but for the most part it remains a service completely misunderstood, and even mocked from time to time. But here’s the thing, it is starting to catch on and people are starting to sit up take notice, and actually use it. Foursquare is one of the more practical location-based social networking applications, and it’s value can only truly be gleaned by actually using it.

In fact, I think the only thing keeping Washington, DC from making a widespread embrace of foursquare is the lack of a Blackberry application. And that’s coming …