It used to be the way you broadcast the cool experiences in your life, but not Foursquare wants to be the tool that tells you the cool experiences you need.
Foursquare relaunched itself today as a smart recommendation tool. The new platform will recommend food, stores and entertainment options to the user based on their location and their preferences.
In a blog post announcing the new app, Foursquare explains the updated functionality:
Our phones should learn about us – our tastes, our social connections, and our preferences. And, using what they know, they should help us better explore the world around us. If you love vintage clothing, it should tell you that there is a hidden gem nearby. If you’re in a new city, it should tell you that your friend Katy highly recommends this hole-in-the-wall restaurant downtown. If you crave spicy food, it should advise which dishes you should order when you sit down for dinner.
Essentially, Foursquare is now a more dynamic version of Yelp, but instead of you searching for what you want in a particular place, the app tells you exactly where to go. Foursquare directly takes a shot at Yelp and similar platforms in its blog post:
The new Foursquare frees you from having to read long, random reviews, wondering if those people share your tastes. With Foursquare, find things based on your tastes, the places you like, and the friends and experts you trust most.
It’s a smart move by Foursquare, and it’s definitely one that will make it far more attractive for small businesses and other local advertisers. While it currently looks like the recommendations will come based on an algorithm that learns about each user, it isn’t difficult to make the leap to sponsored listings, or businesses that pay to get recommended instead of others. At the very least, if they weren’t already registered on Foursquare, this gives local businesses a big incentive to do so.
Here’s a video from Foursquare which shows what the new platform will look like:
