Look out Twitter, there’s a new kid in town

Set to hit the 1 million user mark in half the time it took Twitter, Foursquare is heralded to be the next big thing in social networking.

Foursquare is a location based social networking site where users, tracked by their mobile phone GPS, can update each other on their whereabouts (AKA ‘checking in’) and see which friends are nearby. Users collect badges as they visit particular places and the most frequent visitor of each venue gets crowned ‘mayor’ and receives prizes for their loyalty. Launched in main European cities in November 2009, apparently it’s only a matter of time before we’re all checking in on Foursquare and vying for mayorship here in the UK.
Big brands here are starting to cotton on to the advantages such as increased footfall and customer retention that Foursquare offers. Oxford Street Debenhams and Dominos Pizza are on board and dolling out free coffee and pizza to their mayors.
As Foursquare gains momentum it’s set to be an invaluable source of insights into customer behaviour and an exciting new way for brands to communicate with people through social experience. As we wait for Foursquare fever to hit, we’re all speculating about how we can utilize it and what the impact of Foursquare will be on our worlds.