Foursquare - The Hottest New Social Networking Site?

Keeping in touch with friends wherever you are has become has become a necessity for a young socialites life. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter now provide people with the opportunity to update their current status anytime, anywhere with the help of mobile technology. With many people now familiar with always having the internet available in their pocket in the form of a smart phone, it has become the norm to continually connect with others on the go.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is the latest social networking platform to take the social media community by storm. Only launched last year, this location based platform combines a friend-finder, local city guide and a ‘game’ which allows you to update your whereabouts by ‘checking in’ to local places via your phone. You can ‘check in’ to bars, restaurants, art galleries, stations, in fact any place that is registered on the Foursquare map! Once checked in your whereabouts becomes visible to your friends allowing them to track you down to join you.

The ‘game’ part of the programme comes when you check in to a local building. Depending on how often you visit the establishment, you can receive offers and coupons direct to your phone or even freebies if you are the current ‘Mayor’. The Mayor of the establishment is decided by choosing the most loyal customer. By becoming the Mayor, you can receive freebies for you to enjoy whilst in the building and once you are gone, a new Mayor is found. This adds a sense of competition to the game and has been very popular in the United States.

If you can’t beat them....Join them!

In the ever expanding Social Media network, it has become more a matter of synchronisation rather than competition between the big players. Foursquare seems no exception with Twitter already making it clear they are happy to work with Foursquare to provide a more holistic platform. In order to a head start, you can also link up your Foursquare and Twitter accounts to find all your friends who are already using Foursquare.

You can use your Twitter stream on Foursquare and vice versa to let people know where you are and what you’re doing. Foursquare has outdone its rivals however by allowing its users to choose how often they link up their location and Twitter status, therefore allowing you to stay under the radar when needs be!

What’s great about it?

Foursquare is different in the fact that its primary use is to track down your friends to have face-to-face contact rather than sitting on Facebook or Twitter and communicating via statuses or tweets. It also combines the social interaction with a ‘real-time’ competitive game which has tangible rewards. This is good both for local businesses and their customers by encouraging loyalty and reward you for your efforts in brand loyalty.

Another differentiating factor about Foursquare is it can also act as a guide to the city, with people being able to leave tips and hints for the local area. As a user you can add your own tips to a local venue to let both your friends and the general public know of the best places to go and things to do. For example, if you are sitting in the local winery and find the best tasting French chardonnay, you can let the world know of your discovery. Others can then save these tips on a ‘to do’ list allowing them to generate their own personal check list.

Will it be a Big Player in the Social Media Monopoly?

Having only been live since March 2009, Foursquare already has over 1 million users and is rapidly growing showing great promise. Predominantly found over in the States having originated in New York, Foursquare has all the ingredients to become a worldwide success.

Foursquare relies heavily on users registering popular locations and businesses verifying ownership. Once verified the company can offer its customers great rewards for loyalty and therefore is great for encouraging people to visit time and time again. However, Foursquare has the great advantage of remaining intimate despite having such a huge following due to people being incredible choosy on who they let see the geographical location.

This has led to concerns over people’s privacy on Foursquare. However, the argument could be made that all social media sites have some elements of privacy infringements. The advice being giving by the makers of Foursquare is simply to only add your friends whom you wouldn’t mind seeing your whereabouts rather than a My Space everyone’s-a-friend style.

With such a new platform it is near impossible to determine how much potential this media has, although from the first few stats, the future is looking bright for Foursquare!