The New Foursquare: Was it a Good Decision?

Swarm would be used for social location sharing and Foursquare for personalized location recommendations (similar to Yelp).

At first, everyone was confused. Why would Foursquare remove one of it’s most valuable features and throw it into a whole new app? Some users even got angry and created a Kill Swarm Twitter account. Well perhaps the most recent update of Foursquare will change everyone’s opinions.

To start, Foursquare got a whole new look from top to bottom. Including a new logo.

What’s most important about the new look and feel is the personalization. After downloading and using the new app for the first time, Foursquare asks you what you’re into such as your favorite types of food. These are known as “tastes”. Foursquare uses these preferences along with your previous check-in history to help serve you nearby recommendations.

Foursquare’s search filters are also a great new feature. You can filter by places you haven’t checked in to before, by places offering specials, and even by places your friends have checked in to. Once again, adding on to the more personalized user experience.

In the end, the most recent updates trump non-personalized competitor, Yelp.

“To actually get an app to talk to you like a friend would talk to you. That’s what we’re going at here, and I think we’ve done a really good job of it,” says Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley.

However, how is Foursquare’s latest version really impacting the company? Many social media marketers were previously claiming that the platform was slowly dying, but they may want to think again. Let’s take a look at the chart below highlighting download rates from February 2010 to today.

Photo via App Annie

As you can see, Foursquare’s previous situation was somewhat dire and their app relaunch helped them turn things around. Before the relaunch, the app was ranked #1,221 overall among iOS apps in the U.S. The following day, Foursquare jumped to #457 and is continuing to rise.

So to get to the whole meaning of this article: Was the re-branding and relaunch of Foursquare a good decision? My Answer: Yes.

Social media users are always looking for more personalized experiences. By providing more relevant places for Foursquare users, they are more likely to visit a particular recommended place. This is a big win for local and small businesses. It will also help make Foursquare advertising more hyper-targeted and impactful.

Does this mean the end of Yelp? Who really knows. But the new Foursquare does have two advantages over Yelp: 1) It’s more useful and personalized. 2) It’s prettier.

Of course, there is always room more changes and optimizations. But for now, I think Foursquare’s relaunch was a good decision.

So if you’re a local or small business that doesn’t have a Foursquare presence, now’s the time! Even better, I can help. Feel free to shoot me an email to see how we can get started!