Foursquare.  There’s an app for that.

The foundations of the playground shudder as four children, pitted against one another, fight to become (or remain) king.  It’s a childhood past time, and only the strong survive.

But today we’re not talking playground competition, but rather technological innovation!  Created by a small group of developers, foursquare is a new smart phone-based application that takes elements from Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites and adds GPS functionality.  Where these other social sites connect people digitally, foursquare seeks to connect people geographically.  Users of the program “check-in” when they arrive at a particular location.  This location could literally be anywhere.  Seriously, anywhere. Restaurants, gas stations, bowling alleys, pubs, homes, a pothole in the middle of Main Street, all are fair game in the world of foursquare.

Locations are generated by users.  When a foursquare user publishes a new location, it pops up on the foursquare system for all to see!  Points and “badges” (which are often hysterical) are awarded to users as they accomplish certain tasks:  creating a new location, visiting a certain location multiple times in one day, becoming “mayor” by visiting that location more than any other user, etc.  As people visit locations and “check-in” in real-time, they are allowed the opportunity to post tips and hints to other users in the area!  For example, if the chili-cheeseburger at So and So’s hamburger joint is a must have, a user could post that information as a tip.  Other users in the area would then see that the chili-cheeseburger is the bomb-dot-com and could then head on over to So and So’s to try it out!  foursquare is a unique, tech-savvy way to share your experiences with your friends about the places you’ve been!

And that’s not all.  While twitter is still “building value” before they decide to monetize their efforts, foursquare is not wasting any time.  Most importantly, at least for us marketers, there are more aspects of this application that we can utilize for business purposes.  You can read more about the business marketing aspects of foursquare over at the Surge Promotions Business Blog.   In the meantime, lets see how often you can check in at Surge!