What is Foursquare?

Have you heard of Foursquare? Depending on where you live you may hear about it daily or you may think I am talking about the kids game where you bounce a ball between 4 kids on the  school play ground..

Foursquare is actually a relatively new social networking site online. It falls into a category called location-based social networking.

At first glance most people see Foursquare as silly, useless and a waste of time. But not too long ago most of us felt that way about Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and others. Now some us us are referred to by friends as “Facebook Addicts” because we don’t go very long in our day with out checking our accounts. For some people Twitter is their drug of choice.

Foursquare Basics

Foursquare’s main usage is done through smart phone apps. Although you can also use it directly thought their web site. To install the phone app, you go through your phone’s app service and simply search for Foursquare.

Once you install it on your phone you can even sign up for an account right through the app. At some point you will want to go to the actual site and log in to your account and do some basic set up things.

Now, each time you go anywhere you pull up the app and have it look up the places in the area. You locate where you are on the list and you “check in”.

When you check in you are given an opportunity to enter a comment. You could give a tip about the location, share why you are there or maybe invite people to join you.

You can link your Foursquare account to your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Then when you enter that comment at check in you are given a choice to have it also post to twitter and/or Facebook.

Why Do I Need This?

As a consumer it can be a way to keep track of where you have been and where those places are. I don’t know about you but I have had times when I go to a new place with friends for dinner and I loved it. But then when I am talking to someone about it later and they ask me where it was or even what it was called and I can’t remember.

Since I use Foursquare I can go and look at my account and instantly know the name and location of that place.

Also you can help your local community. Huh?

Each time you check in somewhere you can promote a local business. You are telling people (your friends and followers) that you enjoy this place and possibly why.

For every person that check in at a location that business gets a bit of free publicity. And in today’s world we could all use some free publicity….

This type of notice also provides some social proof for the business. The way people in general think is that if I keep seeing my friends “checking in” at this one food place, or this one business there must be a reason. So now I am at least intrigued enough to ask them about it. Now the business gets a bit more publicity because if my friend had a good experience with that company, I am going to hear all about it when I ask.

There is also a small game piece to the site, which initially myself and mu friends were thinking “ahh, we don’t care about the game we just want to help out the businesses we use”. But it is strange (and a bit silly) how quickly you find yourself “competing” with your friends for points and Mayorships…

Don’t worry you will understand it all after you check in a few times

So that is the basics of Foursquare. Be sure to check back in the future for more in depth information about this interesting new service and how you can use it to benefit your community and maybe even your own business…

By the way you can also have “friends” on Foursquare, so after you sign up be sure to look me up: http://foursquare.com/user/cindyclemens

About The Author:
Cindy Clemens is a mom, author, speaker, marketing consultant and Co-Founder of Your Marketing University. Her goal is to teach marketing in a simple easy to understand format that businesses can use to help gain marketing ideas & market their businesses to boost sales.

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