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Tag: 4sqday

  • Foursquare Day Celebrated with Cool Visualization of Your Year of Check-ins

    Well guys, it’s 4/16, April 16th, which means its officially Foursquare Day (four, squared). It’s the fourth annual celebration of Foursquare, an event that was first begun as a grassroots effort and has morphed into a much larger-scale app-holiday that finds businesses everywhere offering deals and specials in celebration.

    For instance this year, Foursquare gave small businesses an incentive to offer specials today. They offered to feature any and all businesses who participated in the search results on foursquare.com.

    “From checking in, to uploading tips, photos, and addresses, to telling friends about the app, the 33 million people on Foursquare have brought us to where we are today. Four years and over 3.5 billion check-ins since we launched, our community-created map of the world is more complete than ever,” says Foursquare.

    In celebration of the 4th Foursquare Day, Foursquare has created a new interactive visualization that lets you look at your past year of check-ins in a few interesting ways.

    First, you can organize them linearly by time, and then you can randomize them.

    But the coolest ways to look at the past year of data is by category (food, nightlife, professional, shops, travel, etc):

    And by connections, which will show you an awesome map of how you traveled between your check-ins:

    You can check out your own visualization here.

    It’s been a big year for Foursquare, complete with a bunch of core changes to the service that put more emphasis on search and recommendations than the app has ever done before. No bigger, though, than the recent update to version 6.0. Foursquare also announced $41 million in funding.

    Also, remember to check-in today to receive your special 4sqDay 2013 badge. Foursuare may not be putting as much of an emphasis on the gamification aspect of the service, but that doesn’t mean that users still don’t love their badges.

  • Foursquare Gives Businesses Incentive to Offer Specials on 4sqDay

    If you’re a local business and are thinking about celebrating the upcoming 4sqDay 2013 with a special, Foursquare is giving you another little incentive to make that decision easier.

    Foursquare has just announced that they will be automatically featuring any business that offers a Foursquare special in the search results on foursquare.com.

    “It’s a great way to get even more eyes on your business!” says the company.

    And if you plan to run a special, Foursquare says that you should print out this sign and plant it on your window, counter, or wherever.

    Foursquare is pretty flexible on what kinds of specials you can run through their service. It can be monetary – like 10% off upon check-in. Or it can be a reward for a frequent customer or for the mayor. Foursquare makes an example of one local business who offered an express check-out line for those who checked-in on Foursquare.

    4sqDay (Foursquare Day) is going on its 4th year this year. It’s alway celebrated on April 16th (4/16…4×4=16, get it?). The first 4sqDay was celebrated in 2010 in Tampa Bay. It was originally begun by Foursquare users but in 2011, after the success of the new holiday in an unofficial capacity, some cities hopped on the bandwagon. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg actually issued an official proclamation declaring 4/16 4sqDay in the city.

  • Foursquare Users Can Now Instantly Verify Businesses

    Geolocation platform foursquare offers its merchant users all sorts of perks, and now businesses can instantly verify themselves for a flat $10 fee. The snail mail process of verification can sometimes take up to a month, and now merchants can register their stores instantaneously at the foursquare for business page.

    foursquare

    From there, merchants can verify that they manage the business, and can begin added foursquare specials found on the merchant platform, including Swarm, Friends, Flash, Newbie, Check-in, Loyalty, and Mayor:

    foursquare deals

    Foursquare is rolling out the new instant verification feature today, and points out that users can still register by physical mail for free if they’d like, and that users who are already registered aren’t required to pay anything.

    Foursquare, which presently has about 20 million users, 750,000 of which are businesses, recently celebrated it’s 3rd annual “foursquare day” on April 16th.

  • 4sqDay (Foursquare Day) 2012: Two Billion Check-ins Since The Holiday Began

    Today is a Monday, a day after before tax day, and by all accounts nobody’s favorite day of the year. But it’s also a holiday to many social media users: 4sqDay.

    Or Foursquare Day, if you want to spell it out. Every April 16th since 2010, location app Foursquare celebrates the day based on a little bit of wordplay and math. Foursquare = Four Squared = 4/16 (4^2). Get it?

    The first 4sqDay was in 2010 in Tampa Bay, Florida. It was originally begun by Foursquare users, a truly grassroots holiday. In 2011, after the success of the new holiday in an unofficial capacity, more cities hopped on the bandwagon. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg actually issued an official proclamation declaring 4/16 4sqDay in the city.

    Foursquare Day is celebrated in some areas with parties, and in others with simple check-ins. Checking-in today will net users a special 4sqDay 2012 badge, seen above.

    Here’s the message when you check-in:

    In 2010, foursquare fans declared April 16 4sqDay (4/4^2 – nerds after our own heart!). Two years and two billion check-ins later, you’re still why we get out of bed each day. Thanks to all 20 million of you for making us part of your lives.

    Foursquare has also made this (admittedly corny) video for the occasion:

    More cities are getting in on the fun this year:

    @jimsuttle
    Mayor Jim Suttle    I’ve proclaimed #4sqDay in #Omaha! Take time to explore all that our city has to offer & don’t forget to check in! http://t.co/wM085W76 2 hours ago via Twitpic ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Last year, Foursquare reported 3 million check-ins on 4sqDay alone. That shattered the previous single-day record of 275,000. Will you check-in on 4sqDay 2012? Let us know in the comments.

  • Foursquare Day Success: 3 Million Check-ins Plus

    I told myself I would stop.  I really did.  I told myself that there was really no reason to check-in on Foursquare to every bar and restaurant that I visited.  Nobody really cares where I am, right?  Well, even if that last part is true (and it may wall be), I haven’t stopped checking-in.  I am approaching 2000 check-ins and with every one I still hope to unlock a cool little badge.

    Apparently, I am not alone.  Saturday was Foursquare day (4/16 – 4² = 16….get it?) and people all over were busying checking-in – ferociously.  According to a tweet from founder Dennis Crowley, over 3 million check-ins were recorded on Saturday alone.  That dwarfs the previous one day record of 275,000.  That’s over a 1000% increase.

    @dens
    Dennis Crowley    Just heard from @harryh that #4sqDay was our biggest day ever for checkins – first time breaking 3M in one day! (3,073,635) Thx all! 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    This year wasn’t the first time that Foursquare day has been celebrated, but before it was definitely more widely recognized among a geek contingent.  This year, 14 different cities officially declared the holiday, including a very highly publicized declaration in Foursquare’s home base of NYC.

    @MikeBloomberg
    Mike Bloomberg    I’ve officially declared 4/16 @Foursquare Day in NYC #4sqday http://bit.ly/i3ooUv 4 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Minneapolis was another high profile declaration:

    @4sqMSP
    4sq Minneapolis    Mayor Rybak and the City of Minneapolis have officially proclaimed 4/16 Foursquare Day @dens #4sqday @foursquare #4sqmsp http://t.co/NFQ9cci 3 days ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    Last week, an article written by Goby CEO Mark Watkins got quite a bit of play.  In it, he projected the decline of the “check-in” as a singular strategy for a company and offered that companies that relied almost solely on check-ins would have to offer much more in ways of deals, recommendation and other services to stay alive.

    In the article, he outlines basic reasons why he thinks people check-in; to help people remember things for instance.  He then explains why he thinks that isn’t something that is going to sustain long-term growth.  Another factor for him is the “game factor.”  As long as check-ins are a “game,” they will not have long-term sustainability.

    Although the record totals for Foursquare day admittedly occurred on the company’s flagship day, they are nonetheless impressive.  Foursquare also recently announced it has topped the 8 million total user mark.  And with cities all over jumping on the wagon and officially declaring 4/16 Foursquare day, it looks like the buzz for this check-in driven company isn’t declining in the least.

    Also of note, entertainment check-in app GetGlue just announced its own milestone.  The company just surpassed 1 million users.  At least for now, the forecast looks good for at least some of the check-in based companies.