{"id":17864,"date":"2016-11-18T13:49:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T18:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/can-foursquare-become-the-mayor-of-location-intelligence-services\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T13:52:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T18:52:38","slug":"can-foursquare-become-the-mayor-of-location-intelligence-services","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/can-foursquare-become-the-mayor-of-location-intelligence-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Foursquare become the mayor of location intelligence services?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Check-In Mayor Loses Its Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of us may remember Foursquare as the social networking app where you competed against friends by checking into restaurants, venues, and stores to earn points and badges. To some, the ultimate goal was to become \u201cmayor\u201d of a certain location, and to others, the app was a fun game to play with friends with the added benefit of receiving \u201cspecials\u201d at certain establishments. The app quickly generated buzz among young, city dwellers and college students, reaching over 5 million users by December 2010 since its launch in 2009 [1]. The founders attribute much of the app\u2019s success to its search and discovery function (akin to that of Yelp) as well as its competitive and social nature which encouraged friends to join the network [1]. However, as location-based online services became ubiquitous \u2013 Twitter and Facebook both began allowing users to include location data with posts and Yelp added the ability to check-in to locations \u2013 Foursquare\u2019s differentiation to consumers and value to investors began to shrink [1].<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CvMVFGOJ2Z0<\/a><\/p>\n

The Evolution of a Data Company<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the app landscape intensified, Foursquare knew it needed a radical transformation to remain viable leading the company to split into two apps: Foursquare \u2013 an exploration and discovery tool and \u201ca true Yelp-killer\u201d \u2013 and Swarm \u2013 a check-in based social networking app [2]. The CEO, Dennis Crowley, knew that at its core, Foresquare was a location-based data company that had amassed years of users\u2019 traffic patterns based on (1) Foursquare\u2019s \u201ccutting-edge\u201d technology called Pilgrim* that pinpoints a user\u2019s exact location and (2) its extensive database of over 60 million establishments around the world [2]. By splitting the apps, Foursquare could focus on using its massive data collection to cater to users in a more personalized way, including providing targeted recommendations on Foursquare and sharing locations on Swarm. While the apps each served a different purpose to distinct user segments, both relied on Foursquare\u2019s foundation of capturing user data that could be used for monetization going forward.<\/p>\n