Comet Branding - Branding | PR | Social Media

Is It Time For Me To Rethink Foursquare?

Dear Foursquare,

About a year ago, I broke up with you. It wasn’t because you were a bad app or I had poor experience, it just seemed that Mayors and first time check-ins were the only ones who truly benefited. I got over my badge collection quickly.

I still supported others to check-in and encouraged my clients to utilize you for their various businesses. But I did not think this was the platform for me.

I still remember the comments from Dennis Crowley, asking me to be patient with Foursquare; the team was working on updates.

So while I moved on to other apps and platforms, those words stuck with me. I kept my eye on the team at Foursquare through friends and other sources. While I can’t say I missed you, I was impressed by what I was hearing and seeing.

I have to say the many upgrades made over the past few months appear to be great improvements for both customers and retailers.

(Please Note: I have not used Foursquare since my first blog post.)

I applaud your innovations aimed at enticing more merchants to use your product, including the “Flash Special” and partnership with American Express. Very mature for such a young company, maybe it was the terrible 2.0’s that I did not find so appealing.

But the one upgrade that caught my attention is your new and improved photo-sharing integration. Smart move to integrate your own version of a photo-sharing app with privacy settings, it gives your users another layer with which to engage. You were also able to steal some thunder away from Color, who I thought was poised for a big splash.

The fact that users can organize photos by specific events, check-ins, or venues, shows me that you are thinking holistically. I am also intrigued with third party/web-based apps like airand, now there’s even more motivation for using Foursquare.

With the recent milestones (10 million users/500,000 merchants), puts me in the real minority and I am fine with that. I’m still undecided if I will come back but your changes and recent deals announcement are making the decision a bit more difficult.

Hugs and Badges,

Mike Wiz
@mjwizzy

P.S. Great execution on the Perry Ellis badges!

Tags: american express, check-ins, color, comet branding, Dennis Crowley, foursquare, Hanson Dodge Creative, Mike Wisniewski, social media