To answer the title’s question, yes and no. Today, depending upon who asks the question, “What is Foursquare?” and to whom, generally the answer is one of the following three:
What is Foursquare? Are you doing it?
- Asked to a non-smart phone user Huh? What the heck are you on about? That was a game I played in grade school. Hated it. Got my face smashed in with that dirty, maroon rubber ball.
- Asked to the new computer user Huh? I’ve heard of that Foursquare thingy. Something to do with checks and socialness, and weird Facebooky things, right?
- Asked to a Foursquare user Huh? Leave me alone while I check into this establishment. I need to become its mayor, get points and badges. Buzz off, weirdo!
Okay, perhaps a bit of an extreme, but two of the three are pretty much spot on!
To get a better idea of exactly what Foursquare is, check out this answer from the Foursquare About Us page:
Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. By “checking in” via a smartphone app or SMS, users share their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges.
Let us break down the above into digestible bits of information. Location-based must have something to do with where one is while using the service. It makes sense that it was designed to be used as a mobile platform, or with the aid of mobile hand-held computing devices. That would be the smart phones and regular old not-so-smart phones out there (hence the smartphone or SMS in the above quote!)
The downloadable applications for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry phone users of the world provide Foursquare owners with the ability to get information on nearly any physical place they might find themselves wanting to go to. The mobile applications provide data like hours of operation, type of service provided, maps, and which other users might also be at or nearby that vicinity.
To make it fun and addictive, the developers of Foursquare provided points allocation for performing various functions. When a user gets to the business they check in via the application and are awarded points, and sometimes special badges. The individual who has checked in the most times to a specific location over the previous two-month period is deemed to be its mayor.
All of these activities and rewards create an air of competition among friends, especially those living in close geographic proximity to each other. Another great feature of Foursquare is that the service will notify a user when other friends of theirs are also where they are.
Of course, Foursquare is not all fun and games. Businesses are able to use the service to promote their existence to local people in an effort to entice foot traffic and additional sales. Sponsorships are available to any local business and can provide valuable offers for users to take advantage of when coming into the physical locations.
These offers take a variety of forms–from a special freebie or discount to the location’s mayor, or simply a buy one, get one free offer to checked in users. Foursquare makes the platform free and easy to use for local businesses, but also provides for consultations where necessary.
Whether a business owner is hoping to get more paying customers in the door, or one is simply the proud owner of the latest smart phone, Foursquare is interesting, fun, and might add to one’s bottom line.
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