Foursquare hopes to move beyond manual user check-ins, beginning with its announcement of Radar for iOS 5, a feature that pings you when your friends and places are nearby.
Oct 19, 2011
Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley interviewed at Web 2.0 Summit 2011
Dennis Crowley Web 2.0 Summit 2011 Dennis Crowley, Foursquare's CEO and co-founder, took the stage at Web 2.0 Summit 2011 yesterday and had a bit to say about the 10 million-user strong social service. While he spoke of competition from social networks (Facebook's Places) and others (Groupon and LivingSocial), his most interesting comments for Foursquare users regarded the company's vision of the service in the (not too distant) future. The quote that pretty much sums it up is that the Foursquare team wants to make "an app you don't have to use." Seems counter-intuitive, right? Well, the idea is that Foursquare is being limited because users have to remember to check in, something that's "asking a lot of people." Crowley thinks the new Radar update, which passively pings users to let them know when someone is nearby, is a huge step towards this ultimate goal.
Read Article >As to competing with Groupon and LivingSocial? Crowley says they'll get to that once they make their users "sticky" (read: dependent on the service). See the video below for the entire interview.
Oct 14, 2011
Foursquare's Radar tells you when friends, places are nearby
Read Article >iOS 5 may have been difficult to download, but it's worth the wait — especially for Foursquare users, who got an update today that could change how they interact with friends and places. In version 4.0 of its iOS app, Foursquare has added a real-time feature called Radar. Radar uses your location to tell you when you are near your checked-in buddies, something you've marked on your to-do list, or an item on a list that you've subscribed to. By notifying you of convenient opportunities to hang out, the hope is that next time you're out and about you'll choose meet up with a nearby friend. Since Radar allows Foursquare to move away from its reliance on manual user check-ins, the company sees this as a major step in the advancement of its service. Like Reminders, Apple's location-sensitive to-do app, Radar works by simply pushing notifications to your iPhone. Update 4 is already available from the App Store, though only iPhone 4S and 4 users running iOS 5 get Radar. No word yet on Android availability; they'll just have to make do with Google Latitude for now.
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