What Is Foursquare

If you are into the social networking scene then you may have wondered, "What is Foursquare?" With over 500,000 users you may want to find out so you can be part of a growing network that allows you to have fun while visiting merchants and locations. 

1. Share your location. Foursquare basically allows you to share with others where you are at. This may seem silly to some but to those that like to Tweet or post their every move on Facebook will love this feature of letting people know what you're up to. Share that you're at the beach or you just checked into a local bar where there's a party going on; the sky is the limit.
2. Connect with friends or make new friends. If your friends have Foursquare, then you can keep up with what they are doing as well. Not only can you find out if you're at the same place as them you can learn about different restaurants or things to do. Let's say you see "Bob" has checked into The Chicken Factory (totally made up name) and you've never been there you can ask Bob to let you know how the food is. Or if you see "Carol" has checked in to the theater and is watching the latest action movie, you can ask her how the movie was. This is done by either seeing where they are checked in on the Foursquare application or if they send their check-ins to Twitter or Facebook. You can make new friends as well. If you see someone that goes to the same establishment as you, you can click their name on Foursquare and find out a little more about them. You can then send a friend request in Foursquare.
3. Become the mayor. If you visit a certain merchant or place long enough, you will become the mayor of that venue. Typically, this might not mean anything other than bragging rights, but sometimes there are specials that only the mayor is privy to.
4. Get specials. If you are near or at a merchant, you will sometimes see that there is a special nearby. Just click that tab and you'll see what kind of special is close to you.
5. Earn badges. Badges are a cool way of showing that you have been to certain places or have gone enough times. They don't really do anything but they're neat to show off if that's your thing. Plus, it gives you a goal and that can be good for the vendors or merchants you may frequent.
6. Get tips. Other people will leave tips at certain places such as, "Try out the roasted honey chicken" when you're at a restaurant. This allows you to take note of what others have enjoyed so that you can try something new or get ideas.

Foursquare is an application that is mostly for fun but in the future you can most likely see more and more ways to use it to do things like save money or find out more about a merchant. Right now it's a fun way to show your friends what you're up to with a few extra benefits thrown in.