foursquare facts

Foursquare is a mobile app that allows users to search, rate, and review local businesses. The service was created in 2008 and launched in 2009. In its original conception users were able to "check in" to the business/ location they were at and broadcast it to their friends/followers along with finding new places to visit. During the summer of 2014, Foursquare decided to revamp itself and created a companion app called Swarm. Swarm became the check in app and Foursquare the searching and reviewing app. You can now move easily between the two, starting by looking up restaurants near you on Foursquare and then pushing over to Swarm to check in when you have arrived at your destination. Each app has a button to push to the other app.

I have used Foursquare for over five years now and Swarm for the last two years. In the beginning businesses were able to give special discounts to those that had checked in and showed the discount code when checking out. For example, at Chili's if you checked in you received free chips and salsa with your meal. Other businesses have a percent off or their own freebie of some sort. The original Foursquare app would highlight the businesses having discounts to make it easy for consumers to find good deals. When the split came this disappeared. Foursquare also provided users with the ability to collect Mayorships of locations by checking in the most over the course of the month. This feature is now part of Swarm. Users of Swarm are also enticed with digital stickers and gold coins these days.

Businesses can use Foursquare in a variety of ways these days. Businesses are able to "claim" their listing which gives them access to various information and can allow the business to monitor reviews of their company and address any issues. They can also select what services to highlight (take credit cards, outdoor seating, etc), hours, menus and more allowing customers more information before they make a decision. Businesses can also use Foursquare to track peak traffic hours based on the number of check ins. According to wikipedia, "Claiming a venue can be done for free via mail which takes several weeks to process, or instantly with a credit card for a fee. In January 2013, Foursquare released 'Foursquare for Business', a mobile app that lets businesses manage their listing on Foursquare from their iOS device."
 For consumers, Foursquare operates mostly as a mobile site but there is a normal site available as well at https://foursquare.com/. Either way that you connect to the media, Foursquare allows users to search for very specific needs such as dinner in Strasbourg.  You can also narrow down your choices by price, specials, features, if it's open and more.  Some of this data used for filtering searches is provided by the company such as hours of operations and possibly the menu while some is provided by the users such as does this place have a nice ambiance or can you use a credit card.

Personally I use Swarm everyday to check in wherever I am visiting whether it be my home, school, work, or something social.  It is a way that my family has stayed connected while traveling around as you can figure out where the other person is to meet up with them or just know that they have arrived safely. Swarm also keeps a log of every place you have ever checked in so if you go back to the same city you can see where you have gone before and remember your journeys.  I enjoy collecting the stickers and winning the weekly battle among friends for who can collect the most coins. Mayorships and streaks are also a fun perk as they allow you to collect more coins. Below you can see screenshots of the Swarm app and some of my profile.  I am currently in the lead with 635 coins this week, I have collected 70 of 100 possible stickers and have a couple long streaks going for both mayorships and weeks in a row which will sadly be ending as I am traveling abroad currently.

 


Foursquare I use less often now that they have created the companion app Swarm.  Now I mostly use Foursquare when I am travelling to find new restaurants easily in the area or to edit information that is wrong.  Since I am traveling in Europe currently I have used Foursquare more frequently than when I am in Bowling Green since I do not know where anything is located.  Foursquare allows me to search for food, nightlife, fun things to do, shopping, and more.  It is all easy to use and the number of features accessible to consumers to find what they are looking for is incredible.  I wish I could give a comparison to Yelp but I have been using Foursquare for so long it is my go to search app. It can be a very useful app and I highly recommend it.