Increased use of Smartphone is sure to increase their knowledge about easy to use apps and several other websites which are exclusively developed for mobile devices. One such website is Foursquare which has become famous for being location based social networking website where users can check in at the locations using the website, text messages or apps which have been exclusively designed for devices by choosing among the list of locations which is identified by the app.
Locations are found by Foursquare using GPS hardware that is available in mobile devices or through the network location which is provided by the application and for every check-in user gets either points or certain badges.
Who founded FourSquare?
Foursquare was initiated in the year 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai that has been inspired by Crowley’s graduate thesis project at New York University in Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) which was named Dodgeball. Later this project was bought off by Google in the year 2005 but had to be closed in 2009 instead of which a new venture was started with the title Google Latitude.
The reason for shut down of Dodgeball is said to be the use of SMS services for user interactions rather than using it as an application which is main point pointed out by users. People who have used both Dodgeball and Foursquare will be aware of the fact that Foursquare is nothing but a sequel of Dodgeball which allows people to use mobile devices to interact with the surrounding locations.
Growth of FourSquare
Foursquare initially started in 2009 with restricted availability for the people across 100 metro areas throughout the world, within an year they have gained the ability to chance their location model into check-ins from any locations across the world. Their progress went on to such an extent that 7 million users have registered with the company and also attracting the eye of Barack Obama who thought it to be a great idea so that he can get tips from the places he has been to.
Currently Foursquare is with Windows Phone, Blackberry, WebOS, MeeGo, Android, Series 40, Symbian along with PlayStation Vita apps and gets funding from Union Square Ventures, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and few more.
When survey was conducted during April 2012 it was seen that the company has 20 million registered users, there were expectations set that they should go beyond 750 million check-ins before June 2011 ends where they hoped that they will have an average of 3 million check-ins on daily basis. Reports have not shown any discrimination between male and female users among whom 50% of them are located outside United States.
The company also has enhanced their work by including support for other languages like Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese and German in February 2011, in the same year after about few months support for other languages like Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Thair and Indonesia has been added while Turkish was added after about a year.
Foursquare is available in both web and mobile application form which allows only registered users to give details about the location which is referred to as check-in to connect with friends. For a check-in to be made it is necessary for the user to remain active in response to which points are awarded for every check-in. Application needs the user to be hyper local and hyper specific when it comes to check-in which can be done even if it is related to certain area or floor of a building also accompanied by informing about particular activity at the venue.
Users of Foursquare are given the freedom to keep their check-ins posted through the accounts which are created on Facebook, Twitter or even both, this has been a cause of concern among few people who were not happy with the automatic pop up of Foursquare logs. In the version which has been designed for iPhone application Foursquare allowed the users to push notification of updates of friends which is called pings.
Users of Foursquare are given the freedom to keep their check-ins posted through the accounts which are created on Facebook, Twitter or even both, this has been a cause of concern among few people who were not happy with the automatic pop up of Foursquare logs. In the version which has been designed for iPhone application Foursquare allowed the users to push notification of updates of friends which is called pings.
How to use FourSquare for business?
Foursquare is proud to state that there are more than million businesses which use free tools offered by them to stay in touch with their clients, however it also has to be understood that every latest minute detail can be posted. This has inspired them to come up with Foursquare which acts as a business compliance app that helps business owners in sharing the news with their clients right from their mobile devices.
Using Business companion app managers of the businesses can come up with a fast Foursquare update and post it simultaneously in both Facebook and Twitter apart from this the app can also be used to look out for any recent check-ins. This is one of the best methods to keep the clients up to date with the business dealing and happenings irrespective of the number of businesses which are handled on daily business. Currently all the iPhone and Android users can use Foursquare app for free in their mobile devices, there also is a facility to get comments from the users supported by giving loyalty offers to daily customers in the business all of which can be managed at fingertips.
Why FourSquare is better than Google Places?
Foursquare is often compared with Google APIs, both of which are great places available for developers who can easily add any location to the applications without any investment of huge effort. However likeany application having their share of cons Google limits free service to only 1000 requests everyday which is made 10,000 requests every day if amount is paid for which they have to be contacted.
When it comes to Foursquare it free services allows the user to send 5000 requests every hour making it 1,20,000 requests every day, which upon request can be increased to 50,000 requests every hour and for anything beyond it creates a need to contact the company.
Initially both Google APIs and Foursquare offer free services which can change based on the number of requests required, Google is also said to put in huge investments when it comes to speed with which it operates and availability to the users. When it comes to Foursquare they use Public API which is used by the one in official mobile applications, though it is not as easily available as Google it is said to be stable one when compared to Google.
Reasons why you must use Foursquare
1. Get in touch with friends, which is possible through the check-in they do apart from which other information about the place can be mutually shared if they have better idea about it.
2. Play game: This is the most chosen one by those who are new users of Foursquare where they check-in and add locations only with the intent of being rewarded with points or badges.
3. Get information: It is the main purpose of using this application which is to get information from those who are familiar with the location and get suggestions about things to do or to not do.
4. Maintaining history: Foursquare with every check-in helps in keeping a track of the locations which were visited also making it a history which can always be looked back into.
On Last May FourSquare announced a brand new app called Swarm that will exist alongside the current Foursquare app. Swarm will be a social heat map, helping users find friends nearby and check in to share their location.
SEE ALSO: Swarm Android App Crashing? Follow these Steps
Hope you enjoy using Foursquare !
