The end of Foursquare?

As the gong sounds to end the Facebook Places announcement, I feel like I'm watching some sort of frat initiation. If the geeks help the cool kids with their homework, they can maybe come to the party. It doesn't mean they'll get to stay but for one glorious moment they'll be part of something. Until they wake up the next morning with a killer hangover and 'loser' drawn in thick marker on their forehead.

The geeks? Foursquare, Yelp, Gowilla - any of the lot that have been working and growing the whole geo-locations game. They have been trying, failing and trying again at seeing how this whole new malarkey works. Then Facebook comes along and they suddenly have location based check in and beyond. So here is the Vice President of the department of something or other looking like a deer in headlights, nodding along to the excitement of this 'new shiny toy' that Facebook has put out. The nice shiny toy just like the one they've been sweating over for too many months and too many packets of instant noodles to count.

But hey. The geeks get to be the first to use the Facebook APIs. Yay. So all those foursquare fans can post to Foursquare AND Facebook. But wait. If you can just check in on Facebook, why do you need to check in on Foursquare too? Isn't it easier to have everything in one handy to use application? You know...the Facebook one?

I feel sad watching this. The party has started - the food is outside with plenty to go around. But for how long? The gong has sounded. Will mayors and passport stamps be retired? Is this the end of third party check-ins? Is this the end of foursquare?