Foursquare Finds Itself Head and Shoulders Above the Rest July 15, 2010 (Vol. 31, No. 13 As social media applications migrate to smart phones equipped with GPS capabilities, a gaggle of startups has formed, each vying to get people to download and start using its application to track users’ whereabouts in relation to stores, restaurants, attractions and friends.
With 2 million users, Foursquare is pulling away from all rivals in what has become a venture-capital-fueled free-for-all. Foursquare is a free downloadable application that tracks the location of everyone in a user’s address book, Facebook and Twitter accounts. To use Foursquare, you check in at one of many places that are identified via GPS. Upon checking in at say, Louie’s Pizza on Main Street, you may send information about Louie’s to your friends via e-mail or text message, including, say, recommending a new pizza that tastes great.
To stimulate usage and to generate revenue, Foursquare gives you points each time you check in at a location and leave information about it. Get enough points and you qualify for badges of increasing value – and maybe a free soda from Louie’s. If you are the most frequent Foursquare user at Louie’s you may become “mayor” of Louie’s.
Since Foursquare users are locating friends, if you’re a salesperson, you could track down one of your sales prospects who’s nearby and offer to buy him or her lunch. You might also use Foursquare to connect with your co-workers. Foursquare is encouraging third parties to develop applications via an API.
Founded in March 2009 and with headquarters in New York City, Foursquare Labs, Inc. (website: foursquare.com) has received $21.4 million in funding and has a reported valuation of $95 million. (
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