Foursquare

Can anything top Twitter and Facebook? A new service which lets you share your whereabouts with friends would like to think so. Based in New York and set up by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in March 2009, Foursquare already has a million members.

HOW IT WORKS

Foursquare is a social network based on location. It's also a game. The mobile application makes use of GPS technology to connect users with friends whenever they register their presence in a specific place. Users find out if anyone they know has 'checked-in' nearby and then get tips on things to do in the area. Points are given for checking-in at different sites. You get five points for a first time visit. Go to a place three time in a week and you'll win a 'local' badge. This badge shows up on your profile. Return to a place again and again and you might just end up its 'mayor.'

BIGGER THINGS

Yahoo is interested in acquiring the site. Foursquare was faster to a million members than Twitter and if it goes on to turn Yahoo down, is likely to be courted by one of the other big internet companies. Wherever you are, whatever badges you have, Foursquare is starting to make a buzz.

6 May 2010