FOURSQUARE

Created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, foursquare is a geographical location based social network that incorporates gaming elements. The co-founders of this new trend in the latest line of social networks first met in 2007 while working in the same office space in New York City. Although working for different companies, these two brilliant men decided to work together in building the first version of foursquare in the fall of 2008. In March 2009 and it was finally launched at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas. Funded by Union Square Ventures, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and a handful of angel investors, Foursquare is bound for success. Founded about two years ago, Foursquare has raised more than $71.4 million in funding to date. It currently has more than 70 employees in its home town and an engineering office in San Francisco.

Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. It allows users to share their location by “checking in” through a smartphone application or via text messaging.Users can also connect their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which will update when a check in is registered. Based on the GPS embedded into one of these various devices, Foursquare users will check into one of the many places listed under their specific location.However, what makes this different and more interesting than other GPS applications is that it is also a competitive game. Users of Foursquare share their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges for various accomplishments, such as checking out new places or events.Foursquare guides real-world experiences by allowing users to bookmark information about venues that they are interested in visiting and surfacing relevant suggestions about nearby venues. Merchants are offered a free set of tools to help attract customers while brands are able to stay engaged with followers no matter where they may be in the world due to their travels. Every day, millions of people turn to Foursquare to help them explore their world. Whether meeting up with friends, checking out a new restaurant, or visiting a favorite clothing store, they are choosing new adventures and sharing old ones.

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