That badge pinned on your shirt and the coffee cup that sports portraits of your pals, have moved online. Welcome to the world of online status symbols -- easier to win and the easiest to display

What started with showing off the number of visitors to your Flickr pages or blog, now also encompasses the number of your Facebook friends (or any other social network), Twitter followers, Foursquare check-ins and a host of other metrics that indicate your 'wiredness'.

Imaging/ Jishu Dev Malakar

Foursquare, based around the deceptively simple idea of using your mobile device to 'check in' to any place once you arrive there, was widely considered the breakout application of 2009.

This competitive game has two key aspects -- virtual achievements called 'badges' such as the Gym Rat badge (awarded when someone has checked in on 10 trips to the gym in 30 days), the Explorer badge (when they have checked in to 25 different venues), the Entourage badge (awarded when checking-in with 10 friends), and even the Last Degree badge (awarded when checking-in at the North Pole). Foursquare's most significant concept is the 'Mayorship', which allows participants with the most check-ins to a place to become its virtual mayor.

Malad-based Nick Mitra holds 30 Mayorships, including those for cake shop chain, Birdy's, and Hangout in his neighbourhood. "It's quite addictive. On Foursquare, you can add other users to a 'friends list' and compete on points, collect badges for certain milestones or accomplishments or check out how many Mayorships you and your friends hold. So, what starts off as fun turns into a heated competition," says the 22 year-old senior executive with a social media marketing firm.

Daksh Juneja has 30 Mayorships of locations as varied as Acres Club in Chembur and Dadar's Khodadad Circle to Manawar in Madhya Pradesh. His current collection of 13 badges range from Superstar, Super User, Supermayor (special shout-out for holding 10 Mayorships simultaneously), Overshare (10+ check-ins within 12 hours) and Zoetrope (check-ins in 10 different movie theatres). "You can't deny the immediate gratification of these virtual rewards," says the director of Avignyata Inc., a social media marketing consultancy that specialises in creating social media communication for clients.

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