Foursquare…are you on it yet?!

Foursquare, the location-based social media site, has now been around for over 6 months, but has it shaped up to expectations as the new kid on the social media block?  If you are thinking ‘Four what?!’, then let me re-cap…

Foursquare is a geo-location based service that allows you to ‘check-in’ to places.  Checking-in is a way of telling your friends where you are, where they can find you, as well as recommending places to go and things to see nearby.  As well as the clearly useful and practical side this offers – when you check-in you can then see what is near you that has been recommended e.g. cafe, bar or park, it is also a game where you can unlock ‘badges’.  If you visit somewhere and check-in more than anyone else you become the ‘Mayor’.

Recently foursquare hit its milestone of 100 million ‘check-ins’ and now has over two million members. Will it be able to reach the 500 million members that Facebook hit on Wednesday?  It is also now in talks with different potential partners, including industry majors such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing to clinch data deals and with a value now of $95 million, I would say the future looks pretty rosy for Foursquare.