Difference between revisions of "Foursquare"
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=='''Digital Media Characteristics'''== | =='''Digital Media Characteristics'''== | ||
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'''Interactivity'''<br /> | '''Interactivity'''<br /> | ||
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'''Temporal Structure'''<br /> | '''Temporal Structure'''<br /> | ||
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'''Replicability'''<br /> | '''Replicability'''<br /> | ||
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'''Reach and Mobility'''<br /> | '''Reach and Mobility'''<br /> | ||
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== Changes == | == Changes == | ||
== Technology == | == Technology == | ||
Revision as of 22:50, 30 October 2013
Foursquare is a location based application on mobile devices that allows one to check-in their location where ever they want. It is one of the most famous location-based service and is used by over 40 million people.[1] Foursquare is another type of social networking media that allows people to post their location and share it with their followers. Users follow people and are followed by people in the exact same way that Twitter handles their users. There are many different aspects to foursquare that make it an appealing application. People use foursquare for reasons such as connecting with people, meeting up with friends, finding good places to go to, and gaming. Foursquare uses GPS location software on the application to locate nearby venues according to the users current location to prompt the user to check-in. Users will check-in using the smart-phone application and it will immediately be public to all of the user's followers.
Foursquare was launched to the public in 2009 by co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai. They began working on the application in 2008 and it was only a year later that foursquare was created. It wasn't untill 2010 that foursquare took off and became a globally used location-based social networking software. There are 160 employees in only three locations making this application happen. The headquarters are located in New York City, there is a office in San Francisco, and a smaller office in London. It is a private company that is funded by Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and various others.
Foursquare took off and is now the most used location-based social network device and grew a large amount over the last year or so. More and more people are getting involved in the check-in culture of social media and sharing locations online, as various applications have done a lot to maintain solid privacy settings.
Uses
Foursquare has many different uses, which makes it appealing to users with a wide range of personalities and desires. Some use it to socialize with friends and strangers alike, and others use it to locate nearby entertainment, food, and shopping venues, similar to applications like Yelp and AroundMe. People seem to prefer Foursquare to these other applications because it has multiple uses.
- Social Networking
- The social aspect is the most common use of Foursquare. People use it to connect with random people that are interested in going to similar locations, to meet people that are nearby, to meet up with friends, and to share their experiences. People tend to like building up their follower database whether these people are random or not, which can be creepy within location-based media. Under privacy settings one has the option to make their profile and check-ins public or not and one also has the ability to not allow random people to follow them. As a result of the privacy settings, there are not too many stories of bad incidents, because it is all up to the user as to how much the user shares.
- Locations
- The use of Foursquare for locations is also very popular. People can just use the application solely for finding cool places nearby and reading reviews about these places. Foursquare recommends places that are customized to your taste and liking, as you check-in more often. The locations can be used for meeting people in nearby communities and that is how one builds their social network.
- Entertainment
- The gaming aspect is a huge part of Foursquare and attracts users that are not just interested in the social media aspect. There are many badges that you can receive after continual check-ins. There is also a point system that is implemented that allows you to get as many badges as you can. The point system specifics is described in the feature section of this page if interested. Another key reason people check in at locations is so that they can be awarded the "mayor" of the location. The person that has the most check-ins at a certain location becomes "mayor." So people will try and become "mayor" of each others houses. The badges and mayorship is a very clever way of getting users to check-in as often as they can.
- Surprise Uses
- The Surprise uses of Foursquare include safety and availability. As ironic as it is, people have said to use foursquare as a way of safety, meaning they will check in at their home right before they leave to go out so that people think they are home even though they aren't. Another version of using the application for safety is by checking in at home after being out so that the user's friend will know that the user got home safely.
- People sometimes check in at home to show that they are available to their friends and that they are bored.
Uses in more depth
Digital Media Characteristics
Interactivity
Temporal Structure
Replicability
Reach and Mobility
