What is Foursquare? Put simply, Foursquare is a location-based service that adds a gaming component to visiting real-world venues.
Foursquare's Beginnings:
Foursquare was founded by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in 2009. Crowley sold Dodgeball, a similar company, to Google in 2005. Selvadurai spent time building software for Sony Music before starting Foursquare.
How Foursquare Works:
Foursquare lets uses "check in" to various locations using their mobile phones. By checking in, users the can receive badges, see tips from other users. If you check in the most number of days during a 60-day period at any given location, you are deemed "mayor" of that venue. This can sometimes lead to deals or discounts, but often only means a simple point of pride for the user.
Foursquare users can find and follow friends to share their location check-ins and stay on top of what their friends are up to. Friends can be found using Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Yahoo mail and email invitations.
Foursquare users can find and follow friends to share their location check-ins and stay on top of what their friends are up to. Friends can be found using Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Yahoo mail and email invitations.
Foursquare Badges:
Foursquare users can earn badges for checking into specific venues or completing certain tasks. For example, you get the "newbie badge" after your first check-in, the "bender badge" after checking in four nights in a row and the "Jobs badge" for checking into Apple Store three times.
Matters of Grey keeps a great running list of Foursquare badges. There are good explanations of each badge and instructions on how to acquire it.
Matters of Grey keeps a great running list of Foursquare badges. There are good explanations of each badge and instructions on how to acquire it.
Foursquare Platforms:
Foursquare is available for Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm's webOS and Nokia's Ovi. There is also a mobile Web version of the service, but it lacks venue location via GPS.