When Facebook Places launched, many wondered what the fate of Foursquare and other location-based services would be. Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley even remarked that Facebook Places was “generic.” In their latest update, Foursquare not only adds new features, but shuffles around the old ones to offer a fresh new experience.
Tips and To-Dos are those features of Foursquare you probably never bother with. In this latest update, they are given much more attention. They’ve been placed in separate sections. Simply highlighting these features by moving them to the forefront changes things a bit. The goal is for you to use Foursquare to track where you’ve been, tell people where you are, and to remind yourself where you want to go via Tips and to-Dos.
In addition to getting their own sections, Tips and To-Dos are easily accessed from other parts of the Foursquare app (iPhone update is live, but Android and Blackberry users have to wait). As you move around, you can easily add a To-Do for a nearby venue. If you have already added a nearby location to your To-Do list, it appears with a blue “dog ear.” Tips are suggestions from other users for things you should do at a venue. They also receive an important counter that lets you know which tips are popular.
One of the more interesting updates is the new “Add to my Foursquare” button. This is a button that is embedded on any website and allows a visitor to add a To-Do or Tip with a single click. A simple use case for this button is for a business to embed on their website (and anywhere else they can stick it). A site visitor is interested in going to that place at some point, so they click the button. The next time that person is physically near your business, Foursquare automatically reminds them to pay you a visit.
The new Foursquare button lets you bookmark a physical location that you’d like to visit rather than simply a web destination. It’s almost like the Facebook Like button, but also implies your intention to actually do something about it. While this update changes the game a bit, Tips and To-Dos are still slightly confusing and I expect updates in the near future to clean things up.
The major point is that we’re moving past simple check-ins into something more useful. The location space is maturing. At some point, maybe the average person will see the value in participating.
via Foursquare