What is Foursquare and how do I use it?
Written by: I”m sure you’ve probably heard about Foursquare by now. It”s been in the news, businesses have started advertising in their windows, “check-in with foursquare”, and young techno-savvy people all over the world are using it.
But What Is Foursquare and Why Should You Use It?
The main reason for using Foursquare is to connect you with your friends while out and find new places you never knew about. Secondly you can get tips about these location from your friends about deals going on or reviews about food, service, and more. And the third reason to use Foursquare is the fun factor. Foursquare is a game. Earn points every time you check-in, upload photos, or leave comments. Checking-in and earning points allows you to acquire points and badges that show your status in the game.
How Do You Get Started?
First things first, go to www.foursquare.com and create an account. You will need to download their application to your smart phone whether it’s an iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account, you can sync up your foursquare account to see if any of your friends are already using Foursquare.
What are Your Foursquare Friends Up To?
When the app first launches you see a list of your friends, where they are and what they’re up to. If you’d like to know more about the places your friends have gone, just ‘touch’ on their profile to bring up a list of their places, badges, and tips.
Checking in with Foursquare
Choose the ‘Places’ button and it will bring up a list of locations, venues, and businesses nearby. If you see the place you are at listed, select it and it brings you to the ‘Check-in here’ screen. Now just tap the “Check-in Here” button and your set. That’s it!
From here you can choose to leave a comment, upload a picture from your camera phone, and share your location via Facebook and/or Twitter. If any of your friends are also checked in at that location it will list them.
What if Your Location is Not Listed?
If you don’t find the location, venue, or business you are at listed, just open your menu and choose “Add Place”. Your phone will place a spot on the map for you based off of your location. Then you just have to fill in any information you know about the location, name/address/phone/etc and your set.
Share Tips
Do you know something that your friends should know? Like what is the best dish at a certain restaurant or maybe your favorite bar is offering half priced drinks between 7-9 pm. If you have some insight, then share it as a tip.
Besides hidden values and offers, you can provide that venue feedback about the business or a staff member. Or maybe alert new visitors to other locations worth visiting in the nearby area.
Foursquare, The Game!
Earn Badges
Earning badges on foursquare is really just for fun. They’re your little reward for checking in. Badges usually have themes like the Newbie badge (earned with your first check-in), the Crunked badge (earned by visiting 4 unique locations in one night), or even the Playa Please Badge (earned when you check into a venue that also contains 3 members of the opposite sex).
Foursquare has plenty of badges to keep your busy. Some badges are harder to earn than others, and foursquare doesn’t tell you exactly how to earn them (although other websites do).
Businesses and Brands have also created their own badges (such as Starbucks, The History Channel, MTV, etc). To earn these badges you would visit their page for clues to earning their badges. Maybe you would have to visit an venue at a specific time, or show up to an event.
Be on Top of the Leader Board
Everyone likes to be a leader! Each time you check-in you earn points and each week foursquare keeps a running total of your score and shows where you rank verse your friends. By visiting places and checking-in to new places you haven’t been to before you earn bonus points. Bonus points can also be earned by visiting new categories for the first time (like the first time you visit a park, or the first time you visit a restaurant under the American Food category).
Become Mayor
If you frequent a location more than anyone else, you become mayor of that location. This gives you bragging rights over all your friends. But besides that, businesses are starting to utilize foursquare and are offering special discounts or privileges to whoever is currently the mayor of their venue.
Share with Your Friends
Although you don’t have to, you can share your ‘check-in’ on Facebook and Twitter so your friends can see the places you like and support. Maybe they will decide to join in the fun or maybe you gave them a great new place to try out when they go out.
You can also share your accomplishments. Let your friends see that you earned a new badge or that you became mayor.
Learn about Yourself
When you sign onto the Foursquare website, you can take a look at your check-in stats and see where you spend the most time, or how often you go out. These stats can be really interesting and may tell you something about yourself that you didn’t know.
The Social World
The everyday world that you know of is becoming more and more social. It is becoming more important to share of yourself and learn from others. As more businesses start realizing the potential of foursquare it will become more valuable to consumers. Social media and social networking will be a very powerful tool.
