The last Foursquare update was a bit more significant than just in-line picture sharing, as it turns out. The pioneer in location-based social networking has expanded their check-in service to include more than just physical locations. Now you can check in to events that are only going within a set timeframe, with custom UI elements for sports events, movies, and concerts. Foursquare is teaming up with a variety of partners to populate their event database, so no user-created events for now, unfortunately. On the plus side, it means that when you check in to a theatre, you can also share which movie you’re watching.
Traditionally, Foursquare stuck with sharing where you’re spending your time, and offering points, mayorships, and badges as incentives to participate. Other social networks like GetGlue have been around to share what kind of entertainment you’re enjoying, but as we can see, these two things are quickly starting to overlap. Foursquare is also working on a Lists feature, so you can keep tabs on the best Chinese restaurants in town, or your favourite coffee shops and share them. The feature is live on the web version, but is not yet available on mobile.
To be fair, Gowalla has been doing events for awhile now, so they deserve at least a teeny bit of credit for blazing the trail. Despite Facebook, Google, and now Microsoft getting into the location-based social network game, Foursquare still has a strong following, and I suspect as the types of events supported grows, the following will only increase. If you’d like to check it out, Foursquare can be found over here in the App Store.
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