What the Heck is Foursquare?

by Mary Kate Smither, Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

Three years ago, Twitter became the “it” tool at SXSW. This year the name of the game is Foursquare. No, I’m not talking about that favorite play yard game that all of us of a certain age remember and love, but today’s latest hot tool. While Foursquare celebrated their one-year anniversary coincidentally with the kick-off of this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival on March 11, I’d really only heard of it a few months ago. Like my experience with Twitter, I signed up for an account and filled out my profile thinking that it was another tool that might or might not catch on but was newsworthy enough for me to check out the potential value for my clients. Witnessing the enthusiasm of Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley as part of Brian Solis’ panel at SXSW on Friday, I decided to jump in full force and give the site a real try during the festival.

If you’re not familiar, the premise of Foursquare is a city guide crossed with recommendations and tips from friends. The idea is to challenge ourselves to explore places on vacations and business trips, while also experiencing our neighborhoods at home in a whole new way. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, you “friend” and follow people on Foursquare. Where it diverges from these sites is that for every place you visit - a coffee shop, restaurant, museum, meeting room at SXSW, or basically anywhere you choose – users are asked to “check in” anywhere in the world, which notifies friends that you’re currently visiting said place. Additionally, users are asked to provide tips on places. For visiting locations and providing tips, members receive badges, and multiple visits can eventually lead to being named “mayor” of a location. Users also earn points for visits and while Foursquare is still experimenting with the rewards for points, past earned points have been converted to donations during a site charity drive.

What makes it fun is that it provides a quick way for alerting friends and colleagues to meet up, while also allowing you to share your opinions on spots you visit. Foursquare encourages tips to be unusual and out of the box. For example, instead of saying that a restaurant is great, users will note particular areas of a restaurant to be seated, a bartender to befriend or specific condiments to request on a dish.

The next question, of course, is how can Foursquare elevate a brand? With more than half a million users, Foursquare is still on the rise and growing quickly. Hotels can ask members to tout certain amenities within the hotel, such as the expertise of the concierge, comfort of certain chairs in the lobby or in-room toiletries. Bars, retail stores and restaurants have also begun offering Foursquare specials to members who check-in and provide tips. With the site’s continued growth, the possibilities are endless, and companies can sign up for Foursquare as a brand to friend, check in and provide tips themselves.

Will Foursquare still be a hot tool this time next year? Only time will tell. But what I can tell you is that during SXSW what I’ve discovered is that, like Twitter, Foursquare easily becomes addictive. I’ve checked in everywhere from the Mmmpanadas street food truck to conference room D at the Hilton Austin and the #SXSWPR happy hour at B.D. Riley’s. Checking in has quickly become a part of my daily ritual as I go from sessions to events and meals, and I’ve enjoyed the fun of sharing my tips on locations where people can find a place to charge their electronics (a necessity at SXSW) to where the comfortable chairs are for working during breaks at the convention center. If you’re interested in checking out Foursquare, visit http://foursquare.com, and it’s also available to download on most smart phones, including the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and the Palm Pre. To find out more about my recent SXSW adventures, follow me on Twitter @mksmither or friend me on Foursquare at Mary Kate Smither.