A Year Ago Today...

I was an early adopter of location based check-in services like Gowalla and Foursquare. Often I'm asked why I would bother checking in and I've written about the serendipity it can create, but today I was reminded of another reason why I do it.

To see where I've been and to remember what I was doing.

Among all the e-mails I get every morning, is a simple one from "Abe" at 4Square & 7Years Ago that looks like this one that I received this morning.

So what is so special about that one boring check in from a year ago on a Monday morning?

What is special is that I know that was the first face-to-face meeting Ann and I had after I signed the contract to write Content Rules with her.

We sat over breakfast and watched airplanes land and take off as we broke out who was going to write what and giggled about how excited we were about what the future might hold. I checked-in as we left so that no one would bother us during our meeting.

Of course as I smiled about this and sent it to Ann I realized that I'm supposed to be on stage with her today giving a keynote at Confab 2011 which would have been even cooler way to celebrate today. Instead I'm here healing and sending positive vibes to her on what I know will be a killer presentation.

I love that check-in data is beginning to be used for cool things like this. I wish it also pulled in data from other services to give a full picture of where I've been, who I was with and what I was doing. The potential is quite great.

Looking back is not something I do often, but I love to remember.