Foursquare had been around a few years before I decided to sign up and see what the fuss was about. At first, I hated seeing people’s check-ins on Twitter, “I’m at Sainsbury’s” or “I unlocked the annoying update badge”, but now I’ve joined I’ve started to tweet the occasional Foursquare check-in (because I’m a hypocrite like that). I’m sure lots of you still find it irritating but now I’ve joined Foursquare, the whole location-based shizzle is growing on me.
The ‘Save to Foursquare’ button has recently been revamped and a few American sites have added it (Time Out, New York Magazine). The previous button was too clunky and didn’t take off well but now it’s far easier to code into websites, hopefully more online publishers will start to use it to promote their Foursquare presence.
The button allows users to save reviews and places from websites to your Foursquare to-do list and if you are using the recent Radar feature, Foursquare will notify you when a place you’ve added is nearby. They’ve also introduced a bookmarklet that can be added to browsers so places can be saved quickly and easily.
I think the button could be very useful, I’ll always read reviews before I book a table in a restaurant so having those reviews readily available to help me decide where to go would be beneficial. Foursquare could also be used as a handy travel guide if you’re visiting somewhere new; the Radar feature will notify you of the places you’ve saved in the past making it easy to decide where to eat if you are on holiday or visiting somewhere you’ve not been to before.
The final button Foursquare has introduced is the ‘follow’ button, businesses can add this to their website to promote themselves on Foursquare and reach out to potential new customers.
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