Foursquare (social networking)
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | New York City, New York, USA |
| Founder | Dennis Crowley Naveen Selvadurai |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Dennis Crowley Naveen Selvadurai |
| Employees | 17 |
| Website | http://foursquare.com |
| Type of site | Social Networking |
| Registration | Required |
| Available in | English |
| Launched | March 11, 2009 |
| Current status | Active |
Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and also a game. Users "check-in" at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application.[1] They are then awarded points and sometimes "badges." The service was created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai; Crowley had previously founded the similar project Dodgeball, which Google bought in 2005 and shut down in 2009. As it closes in on 1.3 million users in June 2010,[2] Foursquare is being pursued by Internet giant Yahoo! Inc., which has offered as much as $125 million for the service.[3] Foursquare raised $20 million in June 2010 from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.[4]
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[edit] Overview
Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for "checking in" at venues. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook or both. In version 1.3 of their iPhone application, Foursquare enabled push-notification of friend updates, which they call "Pings." Users can also earn badges by checking in at locations with certain tags, for check-in frequency or for other patterns such as time of check-in.[5] The company has stated that users will be able to add their own custom badges to the site in the future. If a user has checked-in to a venue on more days (meaning only one check-in per day qualifies for calculating mayorship) than anyone else in the past 60 days, the check-ins are valid under Foursquare's time and distance protocols, and they have a profile photo, they will be crowned "Mayor" of that venue, until someone else earns the title by checking in more times than the previous mayor.[6] Users can create a "To Do" list for their private use and add "Tips" to venues that other users can read, which serve as suggestions for great things to do, see or eat at the location.[7]
Foursquare started out in 2009 with limited availability in only 100 worldwide metro areas.[8] In January 2010, Foursquare changed their location model to allow check-ins from any location worldwide.[9] As of March 2010, the service had 500,000 users internationally.[10]
Foursquare currently has iPhone, Android, webOS, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry applications.[11] A Maemo application is in early development stage and is not featured on the Foursquare website.[12] Users with Symbian phones and Pocket PCs (Windows Mobile touchscreen) can use Foursquare via Waze, which is also available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.[13] Users may also use their mobile browsers to access Foursquare mobile, but feature phone users must search for venues manually instead of using GPS that PDA applications can use.[14]
In February 2010, the company entered into new commercial partnerships with Zagat, Bravo, Conde Nast, The New York Times and several other firms to offer tips, specials and new badges to followers.[15][16]
Foursquare acknowledged a grass-roots effort that started in Tampa [17] by declaring April 16 "Foursquare Day" via both Twitter[18] and Facebook.[19] The city of Manchester, NH is officially declaring April 16 "Foursquare Day."[20]
[edit] Badges
Badges are earned by checking into various venues. Some cities have city-specific badges that can only be earned in a specific city. Foursquare has, however, changed the way they handle badges, and now when a user gains a badge, he or she has the same badges across all cities. Once a badge is earned by a player, it will remain on that user's profile indefinitely.
The Foursquare staff are very secretive about how to unlock many badges. There are a handful of introductory badges that are earned as milestones in usage. Some badges are tied to venue "tags" and the badge earned depends on the tags applied to the venue.[21] Other badges may be specific to a city, venue, event, or date. Some badges utilize identical icons, but are earned differently. There are a few badges that are named similarly, but applied differently, specifically Far Far Away, Trifecta and I'm on a Boat.
[edit] Superuser status
The service provides three levels of "Superuser status" (which is not to be confused with the Superuser badge). Superuser status is conferred on users who check in frequently or enter new venue information into Foursquare.
- Superuser level 1 can edit venue info (address, cross street, phone, Twitter names, map pin location), mark places as "closed", and let Foursquare know about duplicate venues.
- Superuser level 2 can edit venues, merge duplicate venue listings, remove tags, and add venue categories for any venue.
- Superuser level 3 adds the ability to create and remove venue aliases.
[edit] See also
Other Services
[edit] References
- ^ Washington Post: "SXSW: Foursquare Scores Despite Its Flaws"
- ^ "Entrevista a Foursquare: “la aplicación ya ha logrado el reconocimiento del gran público”". Anexo M. 2010-06-03. http://www.anexom.es/servicios-en-la-red/web-20/entrevista-a-foursquare-la-aplicacion-ya-ha-logrado-el-reconocimiento-del-gran-publico. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
- ^ Jessica Guynn (2010-04-19). "Foursquare tops Silicon Valley's most-wanted list". LA Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/foursquare-tops-silicon-valleys-most-wanted-list.html. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
- ^ Ante, Spencer E. (June 29, 2010). "Andreessen Horowitz Leads $20 Million Investment in Foursquare". http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575337411584163440.html. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ^ "Foursqure Badges Help Page". Foursquare.com. http://foursquare.com/help/badges. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
- ^ "Foursquare Help Page". Foursquare.com. http://foursquare.com/help/. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
- ^ New York Times - Bits Blog: "Foursquare Seeks to Turn Nightlife Into a Game"
- ^ Jennifer Van Grove (2009-11-19). "Foursquare Goes Global With Launch in 50 New Cities". Mashable.com. http://mashable.com/2009/11/19/foursquare-50-more-cities/. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
- ^ Jan 8th Fri. "Foursquare. Everywhere". Foursquare.tumblr.com. http://foursquare.tumblr.com/post/323823770/foursquare-everywhere. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
- ^ " Foursquare Turns 1 With Half a Million Users"
- ^ foursquare. "Foursquare Twitter Page". Twitter.com. http://twitter.com/foursquare. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
- ^ thenokiablog (2010-03-17). "Foursquare App for Nokia N900". thenokiablog.com. http://thenokiablog.com/2010/03/17/foursquare-nokia-n900-barriosquare/. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ "Way to go". Waze. 2010-04-19. http://www.waze.com/download/mobile/. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
- ^ "foursquare mobile". Foursquare. 2010. http://foursquare.com/mobile/checkin. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ Wortham, Jenna (2010-02-09). "Foursquare Signs a Deal With Zagat - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com". Bits.blogs.nytimes.com. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/foursquare-inks-a-deal-with-zagat/. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/12/foursquare-gets-lucky-magazine/
- ^ Hayes, Stephanie (2010-04-03), "Tampa man dreams up Foursquare Day", St. Petersburg Times, http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/tampa-man-dreams-up-foursquare-day/1084899/, retrieved 2010-04-03
- ^ foursquare. "Foursquare Twitter Page". Twitter.com. http://twitter.com/Foursquare/status/11108521066. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ foursquare. "Foursquare Day Page". Facebook.com. http://www.facebook.com/FoursquareDay#!/FoursquareDay?v=feed&story_fbid=103892499646162&ref=mf. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ Brooks, Scott. "Scott Brooks' City Hall: Saving up for a rainy day, even when it's already pouring". unionleader.com. http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Scott+Brooks%27+City+Hall%3a+Saving+up+for+a+rainy+day%2c+even+when+it%27s+already+pouring&articleId=501a0662-7bb1-4d05-b646-cd8daf08d744. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ Foursquare co-creator on privacy, Easter eggs http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10215732-2.html
