
Farewell Foursquare - antr
http://marsbot.tumblr.com/post/36814339883/farewell-foursquare
======
danso
Off-topic: Ha, I like the detail of it starting from meetings at Think Coffee
(in Manhattan). I can hardly ever sit down there anymore and not overhear
startup talk.

More off-topic: If you need a distraction this morning, here's an NYT article
about why Think Coffee is enormously popular among South Koreans:
[http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/a-coffee-
shop-a...](http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/a-coffee-shop-as-seen-
on-tv-becomes-a-must-see-for-south-koreans/)

~~~
aclements18
I always met at Think and never really thought of it as a startup place, just
one that is convenient. But now that you mention it I do run into all the
startup folks there now. Good stuff, though they stopped serving lemonade :(

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raamdev
I personally use Foursquare for nothing more than tracking my travels.
Initially, I checked into places just so that I could go back and look at my
Foursquare history to remember where I was and when I was there.

Then I realized that I should be archiving that data off-site and plotting it
on a map for my readers to see. So I wrote a Python script (i.e., hacked
together a Python script) that reads my Foursquare history KML feed every 30
minutes and then appends the data to a master KML file on my web server. I
then use a plugin called jKMLMap to show my travels on a Google map on my
site: <http://raamdev.com/travels/#map>

I think Foursquare has (had?) huge potential. The digital and the physical
world are coming together and apps like Foursquare allow us to connect the
two. The trick, as is the trick for any startup, is to figure out how you can
monetize such a bridge. I thought the idea of allowing businesses to give away
coupons for checking in or becoming the mayor was a great idea, but that's
subject to abuse and I'm not sure how that makes Foursquare any money.

If Foursquare improved on features that allowed businesses to incentivize
using Foursquare, and made such incentives worthwhile to patrons as well as
businesses (product reviews, service reviews, maybe a way for patrons to offer
suggestions to business owners for improving business, etc.), then I think
Foursquare could save themselves, maybe by charging businesses for offering
such features once there's a demand for them by users.

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molf
The most surprising for me in this post was to learn that Foursquare
apparently has 150 employees. It's an incredible contrast to the low revenues
of $2M this year. [1]

[1]: [http://mashable.com/2012/11/21/foursquare-
revenue-2-million-...](http://mashable.com/2012/11/21/foursquare-
revenue-2-million-2012/)

~~~
graue
News about Foursquare has been pretty bleak lately. I tried using it to find
restaurants but their search results page was a disaster on mobile: tiny text
and it wouldn't allow zooming in. They just updated the Android app but it has
a bunch of reviews along the lines of "doesn't work":
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joelapenna...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joelapenna.foursquared&hl=en)
All this when they apparently have only 20M users, which seems low for how
long they've been around.

Any HNers with an optimistic view, and/or use Foursquare and think it's
awesome?

~~~
glenntzke
I use it fairly religiously and love it. I like the nearby updates for adhoc
meetings with friends and - because close friends of mine also use it - it
provides a nice way to estimate full party arrival. And it has a lot of Amex
$5 off deals. I've probably saved $100 on those. I also use it to find nearby
pubs and such when in unfamiliar cities.

And, of course, I still like earning new badges.

edit for additional note:

If you have friends that use it heavily while on tours it is fun to track
their travels. Follow an entire band or tv crew on tour and get anecdotes from
different personalities live updated as they travel - it's like a _real_
reality show in small doses.

~~~
cmjnelson
If you like the savings from check ins, have a look at our connected app,
GeoPerks (<http://4sq.com/Q8uIW3>). You get replies to checkins at venues
where you have membership discounts and rewards (e.g. AAA, museum memberships,
student discounts, etc.).

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kmfrk
Four-year vest, early December 2008 and all? :P

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fghh45sdfhr3
TIL: Square is not what Foursquare had pivoted to.

(I seriously thought Foursquare turned into Square as the news is full of
Square and I had not heard anything about Foursquare until now.)

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sjhcockrell
The thing that's most surprising to me is that their design team seems to have
lost a lot of key staff recently--and it's not a huge team right now.[1]

Mari Sheibley's work was a huge part of defining the culture/visual tone of
4sq early on. Interesting to see where they go from here.

[1]:[http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/27/ex-foursquare-designers-
foc...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/27/ex-foursquare-designers-focus-on-
sunrise-want-you-to-do-more-with-your-calendar/)

