Foursquare is going to explode in popularity this year. Foursquare is a mobile web service that launched last year that makes a game out of connecting with friends and exploring cities. It’s played on your phone and if you’re a fan of all things web and go out often, you’ll be addicted in no time. I will try to explain the basics here, but the best way to understand Foursquare is to go try it out.
What Is Foursquare?
Foursquare describes itself as part friend finder, social city guide and nightlife game. So what does that mean?
Friend Finder
- Users “check-in” to venues from a mobile device. A venue can be any place people go like a restaurant, bar, museum, park, etc.
- You add friends to your Foursquare account and can then see each other’s check-ins. Makes meeting up with people on the fly easy!
- Foursquare is integrated with Twitter and Facebook, so you can blast your check-ins out to a broader audience if you want.
Social City Guide
- Each venue on Foursquare has its own profile page that shows all kinds of details about it.
- Users can leave behind short tips at venues telling future users good things to order, try, do, etc. It’s fun to check these when you visit a place for the first time.
- Venues can create promotions for Foursquare users. Think freebies and discounts!
Nightlife Game
- Users that check-in at a venue the most often become the Mayor. Creates an instant incentive for repeat visits.
- Check-ins also earn users points and unlock badges for certain actions. As Foursquare evolves I think the points will become more meaningful beyond bragging rights.
How Do You Play?
Foursquare is meant to be played from your phone while you’re on the go. There are Foursquare apps for the iPhone, Android devices, Palm devices and one is on the way for Blackberry too. Users with phones that don’t have an app can use Foursquare’s mobile page instead (http://foursquare.com/mobile/). Finally, if you are like me, and don’t have a smartphone, you can still check-in with standard text messages. The apps provide a more robust user experience, but texting still gets the job done.
To use text messaging send a text to 50500 in this form:
@ Ace Bar ! Playing skeeball
The @ designates the venue name and the ! designates your shout, which is a short message you can include with your check-in. Note that you need to text in the exact name of the venue for the check-in to register correctly. You can search venues from Foursquare’s main page to get the exact name. If the check-in is successful you should get a confirmation message back from Foursquare.
For Businesses
If you’re a local restaurant, bar, etc. you should definitely consider running a promotion on Foursquare. It’s free to run an offer and can really entice users to stop by. Find out more and sign-up for promotions here: http://foursquare.com/businesses/.
For Developers
Foursquare recently opened up an API to developers for building applications to interact with Foursquare. Developers are already creating some neat software like Mob Zombies. See more information and examples here: http://foursquare.com/developers/.
Similar to how Twitter grew in popularity last year and everyone was asking if you tweet, I think this year we’ll see the same thing happen with Foursquare. If you have any questions about how it works leave a comment below, check Foursquare’s help page or leave a question at their Get Satisfaction site. Go play!
