Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Foursquare

Foursquare Hires Former iAd Exec Steven Rosenblatt

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:44:44 +0000

Geolocation check-in service Foursquare is preparing to launch a coupon service built into their apps. Foursquare has hired Steven Rosenblatt as their chief revenue officer last week to prepare for the new business model. Rosenblatt was an SVP of Advertising Sales at Quattro Wireless when Apple bought them out. Rosenblatt became director of ad sales and strategy of Apple’s iAd service after the acquisition.

Foursquare is preparing the launch of their paid media platform in mid-summer. The product will allow merchants to easily promote their deals through Foursquare. When users are looking for local specials, they will see offers through paid ads and promoted placements will be targeted based on the same algorithms that power the “Explore” functions in the app. Establishments are recommended based on a person’s check-in history and check-ins from friends.

“I think what we’re most excited about is helping create new products and building new tools for our merchant partners to be able to reach new customers,” stated Rosenblatt in an interview with AdAge. “A special is one tactic that could be used by a merchant, but there’s lots of other ways to drive loyalty between merchants and consumers, and that’s what our goal is.”

Foursquare Getting Into The Online Coupon Market

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:53:48 +0000

Foursquare has a new plan to generate revenue and it involves local coupon deals. Users will need to check in at the local establishment to unlock the deal. In July, Foursquare will launch an update to their app which will have the coupons. According to The Wall Street Journal, Foursquare, “plans to let merchants buy special placement for promotions of personalized local offers in July in a redesigned version of its app. All users will be able to see the specials, but must check into the venue to redeem them.” Another way that Foursquare makes money is by charging $10 to businesses for instant verification of their accounts.

Foursquare Hits 20 Million Users and 2 Billion Check-Ins

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:07:28 +0000

Today is the third annual 4sqDay. They chose 4/16 because 4² = 16. Foursquare announced a major milestone today to celebrate 4sqDay. They have hit 2 billion check-ins and now have 20 million users. Anyone that checks in today will receive the 2012 4sqDay badge and will receive this message:

In 2010, foursquare fans declared April 16 4sqDay (4/4^2 – nerds after our own heart!). Two years and two billion check-ins later, you’re still why we get out of bed each day. Thanks to all 20 million of you for making us part of your lives. Happy 4sqDay!

Foursquare hit 15 million users back in December. The company has raised over $71 million in total funding and is valued at $600 million.

Foursquare Blocks Girls Around Me App

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:35:35 +0000

There is an app for iOS called “Girls Around Me,” which allows you to display the public check-ins and profiles of girls around you. It essentially encourages you to stalk women. The app made a lot of people think about privacy. Foursquare said that this app is in violation of their API policy so they revoked access to Girls Around Me.

Foursquare Now Has Business Hours

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 05:26:09 +0000

Geolocation software Foursquare is well known for finding venues that your friends are “checking in” at. Now when you are looking for a restaurant or business, you will be able to find the hours of operation. You will see specific times like happy hours, kitchen hours, and free admission hours at museums. [Foursquare Blog]

Foursquare Co-Founder Naveen Selvadurai Stepping Down

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:19:19 +0000

Foursquare investors such as Spark Capital have been buying up stock from current employees. Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai is leaving the company after working there for three years. Naveen Selvadurai and Dennis Crowley started Foursquare together. Selvadurai worked on the Foursquare iPhone app, but now the company is in the hands of hundreds of engineers and developers.

Foursquare recently moved into new offices and the company is valued at over $700 million. Foursquare’s team is growing in New York and San Francisco. When speaking at Mobile World Congress, Crowley said that Foursquare has tripled the number of users from 5 million to 15 million in the past one year and has signed up 750,000 merchants.

Here is what Selvadurai had to say about his departure:

“I’m on the board, I’ll still be advising, and I’m obviously going to be the single most vocal user. But the spring is time for things that are new, and i realize that i have a desire to do something new as well. I’m not sure about my exact next steps, but I’ll probably get back to what I love most – being an entrepreneur, learning and building new things.”

Foursquare Is Getting Into Yelp’s Territory By Releasing Recommendation Engine

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:50:17 +0000

Mobile check-in app Foursquare launched a feature called Explore last year. Explore uses algorithms to suggest restaurants and places to visit nearby based on the check-in history of that specific user and his or her friends. Today Foursquare is launching a recommendation engine for the web.

“The focus until now has been about mayorships and badges,” stated Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley. “We’re getting to the point where we can flex our data and tell you, ‘We think you’ll like this place.’” Foursquare has recently hit 1.5 billion check-ins and 15 million total users over the past three years. This data will be utilized in the new feature.

Users will be able to filter results based on places that they have not yet been and places that their friends have visited. When using the recommendation engine, they will also be able to benefit from the entire Foursquare community. For example, when searching for “tapas” in Barcelona, a list of places that their friends recommend and places that are popular among the Foursquare community will be listed.

[NYT]

Foursquare Surpasses 15 Million Users

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:00:22 +0000

Mobile check-in location service Foursquare has hit 15 million users, which is triple the number of users they had during this same time last year. Half of their users are in the U.S. and the other 50% is international. Now that Gowalla has been acquired and will be rolled into Facebook, Foursquare will have even less competition.

Currently Foursquare and Facebook Places are the top 2 check-in location services. SCVNGR has 2 millionusers worldwide, Loopt has 5 million, and MyTown has 4.5 million. However Foursquare’s competitors have not broken down how many of their users are based in the U.S.

[ClickZ]

Foursquare Redesigns Developer Website

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:36:21 +0000

Foursquare APIs are used for applications such as Instagram, Thrillist, Localmind, Foodspotting, GoSocial by American Express, Quora, The Conan Blimp, and LocaModa. Since Foursquare’s developer community is growing, the company unveiled a newly redesigned developer website at developer.foursquare.com. Foursquare launched developer.foursquare.com in December 2010 along with the newest version of their API. Foursquare added new platform features such as Venue Project and Realtime Push APIs. Foursquare also retooled their Getting Started Guide. This should make life easier for Foursquare developers. [Foursquare Blog]

Foursquare Adds Radar Feature To App Update

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:19:40 +0000

Foursquare has added Radar as a feature to their mobile app. If you follow a list or if you have a place on your to-do list that is near-by, then Radar will notify you about it as a reminder. Foursquare’s Radar feature works on iOS 5.

“If you’re driving home and three of your friends are getting together nearby, we’ll tell you so you can meet up. The app doesn’t even have to be open, it just works. We call it foursquare Radar, because it finds things nearby that you normally wouldn’t know about,” said Foursquare on the company blog.