Foursquare: Location-Based Services Harnessing Social Media

What is Foursquare? Foursquare is a Location-Based Service (LBS) which leverages a social network similar to that of Facebook in order to give users insight into where their friends are at any given time, empower users to find interesting things to do in their general vicinity, enable users to provide and share details about locations/venues they frequent, establish relationships between local businesses and their clientele, and pique users’ curiosity for exploration and social games/entertainment. Each Foursquare user has a profile page which keeps track of his or her Foursquare usage (i.e., check ins) and displays user-provided demographic information. Account and privacy settings are also accessible via the user’s profile. Checking in at different venues is at the core of the Foursquare experience. Doing so notifies other Foursquare users in that person’s network where he or she is currently and has been in the past. 

Foursquare has made strides to prevent check-in cheating over the past year. This is important because checking in is often tied to incentives for frequenting local businesses and other organizations (e.g., trophies, mayorship, coupons, and discounts). Impressively, Foursquare gathers information about the user’s current location from a number of sources, including GPS, cell tower triangulation, and IP routing, and validates user check ins in real time. This was done in an effort to avoid excluding users without cellular internet connectivity or smart phones with built-in GPS. Unfortunately, this does not resolve issues inherent to mobile devices leveraging Wi-Fi for internet connectivity, which can be spotty at best. For instance, I had a frustrating experience trying to connect and use a Wi-Fi only iPad at the multitude of venues I frequented. The IP routing that Foursquare performs is also less accurate in terms of identifying your location. This can lead to the inability to check into a place you are currently frequenting, which is even more frustrating. These are minor gripes at the moment, as most users have smartphones, but it could grow into a bigger problem in the future with the adoption of Wi-Fi only mobile devices like netbooks and tablet computers rapidly increasing. Hopefully, this issue can be resolved by having the mobile device capture and timestamp a location’s coordinates while offline so that the user can check in to that location for that particular time period at his convenience while online.

Outside of these minor hitches, Foursquare is a joy to use with its simple interface, addictive incentive system (i.e., trophies, being mayor of a particular venue, coupons, discounts, etc.), useful local information, ability to facilitate linking up with friends, and quirky, light-hearted visual design. The marketing and advertising possibilities are endless when the user’s current location is taken into account. This specifically helps small businesses and organizations which may not have the resources to utilize more expensive traditional channels for advertising like TV and radio. With Foursquare leading the way, the future of Location-Based Services looks bright and is sure to usher in the next wave of innovation and interesting business opportunities.

Foursquare’s Website