Foursquare Rolls Out App Redo: New Likes, Better Recommendations, Visually Simpler. This evening Foursquare is launching a redesigned version of its iPhone app (with Android and Blackberry to follow). It represents both a simplification and expansion of the app, based on what the company has learned over the past three years. The app is also cleaner and visually stronger. It features three nav buttons on the bottom: Friends, Explore and You/Me. A Broader Friend Feed The new app will display a wider range of activity from friends — not just checkins. Among other things you’ll now see are photos, Tips and new “Likes” in the friend feed.
The addition of Likes (hearts) now provides Foursquare with a new — and more reliable — social signal to enable the site/app to make improved recommendations. The overall idea is to show and generate more social interactions, which in turn will create more user data for better recommendations — a kind of virtuous cycle. More to Explore In tandem with expanded social engagement, Foursquare has redesigned the Explore tab. Dennis Crowley On Reinventing Foursquare: De-Emphasizing Check-ins, Digging Into Data, Moving Toward Revenue. It has been a big day for Foursquare: The New York-based company finally unveiled the newest version of its popular location-based mobile app, Foursquare 5.0 — the iOS version of the app launched at midnight Eastern Time, and the Android version was pushed out several hours later. It’s a big overhaul for the now three-year-old Foursquare: The app was totally rebuilt from the top to bottom in a way that makes it both more simple and more fully-featured.
Foursquare 5.0 is the company’s biggest and boldest step yet toward becoming a complete recommendation engine and standalone social network, a bid to move well beyond its reputation as a fun “check-in” app. So TechCrunch TV was very happy to have the opportunity to snag the first post-launch interview with Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley to get the full scoop on how Foursquare 5.0 has been received by users so far and what’s up next for the company. Taking The Spotlight Off The Check-In Data Is The Mother Of (Re)invention. Foursquare Redesign: So What if the Check-In is Dead? By Erin Griffith On June 6, 2012 Perhaps you remember 2011 — it was the year the check-in died. That sentiment wasn’t lost on New York’s resident Lord of the Check-ins, Foursquare. The company witnessed slowing user growth and a backlash brewing. But rather than ignore it and continue to congratulate themselves on achieving darling status and a crazy-rich valuation, Foursquare did the right thing: They disassembled the entire app and put it back together again.
Based on what I’ve read, heard, and learned from the company itself, they did it right. The company continues to plug away at its monetization plan — merchant platforms. But back to the redesign. The redesign capitalizes on the three years Foursquare has spent collecting data on the way users interact with the app. In that way, I see Foursquare as a bit of a content engine, especially for the young foodie generation. The company isn’t eliminating or necessarily moving away from the check-in. Foursquare Rips Apart Its App To Give You An All New Experience. Foursquare has been teasing the fact that it was about to launch a brand new version this week, and we’ve been following all of the clues on what it might potentially entail. It seems like we were right and the new app is now available for iOS and Android.
This new version of foursquare is more about finding things around you based on where you are right now. Instead of loading up the app when you arrive at a restaurant or bar and checking in, foursquare wants to be the app that you use to find new places to go. The “All New foursquare” is all about discovery. As the company states, it was launched with under the mission of “making the real world easier to use.” Foursquare says that it “ripped the app apart”, and it shows. Navigating the squares Foursquare wants you to be able to access photos, tips, lists, and places your friends have saved in an easier way. As features have been released over the years, they seemed shoehorned in. Discover and Exploration Where have you been? Foursquare App Will Get a Face-Lift in a Few Days [PICS] Location-based service Foursquare will get a major revision in the coming days, donning a personalized Maps tool and other discovery features. The new elements look as though they'll supplement the app's Explore tab, leveraging users' check-ins to recommend places to go and offer nearby deals.
Explore launched in mobile apps in March 2011 and made its way to desktops this January. " Update: On Monday, Foursquare said the makeover will happen June 7: "Where’s the party at? See who’s nearby with the #allnew4sq – coming this Thursday! " The redesigned app reportedly will allow merchants to buy placement for their promotions. “We’ll essentially be offering promoted placement of specials within our redesigned app, targeted using the same technology that powers Explore, and some other premium features,” a Foursquare spokesperson told Mashable.
Foursquare hinted at the redesign on Twitter in a series of tweets over the past few days. May 30 tweet:"Put on your fanciest fancy pants. Foursquare Gets A New Look: Redesign Makes Checking In Stickier And More Social. Foursquare, the app that lets people virtually “check in” to places that they physically visit, has debuted a new top-to-bottom redesign of its mobile applications. The new look does not come as much of a surprise — it has been whispered about quite loudly for days, in the tech media and perhaps most by the New York-based company itself. Now, it is finally live. The new look is pretty clearly aimed at letting people interact more with others on the site — those that they know already, and people with whom they may not be acquainted yet. Each profile page features the user’s photo, location, short bio, and various contact information and social media profiles front-and-center. The home page’s new layout also makes it more inviting to click around to look at the latest activity by your friends.
This seems pretty clearly built to make Foursquare’s experience “more sticky,” and encourage users to click around on it more often and for longer periods of time. Foursquare hopes new mobile apps make it a go-to local resource. While Foursquare started life as a game that encouraged users to discover their world, it has now evolved into a tool that helps users connect to places in more sophisticated ways. The games and the check-ins still matter, but they are increasingly overshadowed by Foursquare’s larger ambitions: to become the primary local resource for users and the prism through which they take in the world.
That’s the driving vision behind the latest update to Foursquare’s iOS and Android apps, which include a host of improvements to its Explore feature and a much improved social structure that encourages more interaction and discovery of places through friends. Instead of waiting for users to pull information from Foursquare, the new apps help push out smarter recommendations and highlight more ways for people to find new places. Explore gets more powerful “We’re trying to delight the user with new experiences before they know they want to have them,” said Andrew Hogue, Foursquare’s search lead.