What Would Make Foursquare Better?

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Foursquare’s recent popularity has people using their app in droves. With that popularity, Foursquare has implemented a number of updates to help with the ever-changing needs of their application.

One of the recent changes was redesigned venue pages that randomized the users that have checked in at that venue. Another change they made was removing the venue link on the “unlocked badge” page for users that aren’t friends with the badge unlocker. One of the more controversial changes was omitting the ability to search for tags associated with venues, thus making badge unlocking infinitely more difficult.

Making a game more difficult or changing too many of the wrong things can have adverse effects. It could cause fans to lose interest in the game altogether. However, some changes could actually increase the fun of the game and continue to boost the Foursquare app into a solid mainstream social networking tool for businesses and public alike. Below we have outlined some changes that we would propose.

Badge Levels

A level system for appropriate badges would exponentially create more badges. A particular badge could start at level one and takes 10 checkins to unlock. Level two for that badge might take 25 checkins. This could be expanded to higher levels of achievement as well.
Examples: Gym Rat badge: Level 3, Pizziolo: Level 2

More Global Badges

Having more badges that aren’t tied to specific locations (NY) or time sensitive events allows a larger population of users to participate in the Foursquare gaming experience. Too much exclusivity alienates people.

Remove Region Restrictions

Badges that could be open to any region should have their restrictions removed. Zagat rated restaurants exist all over the US, but users are only able to unlock the badge in certain areas.
Examples: Zagat, Socialite, Gossip Girl

Create your own badge

This could be a controversial idea to some people, but allowing businesses to create their own badge would help them develop their brand within the social networking aspect of Foursquare, thus creating more value for businesses. Foursquare could charge a small fee for this which would generate more revenue for them.

Do Something with Points

There may have been an original intent to having points in the game, but the idea seems to have been shuffled to the back burner. Foursquare should remove the functionality or make it more engaging. Possibly use the idea of points to create unique badges.

Number of Checkins Per Venue

Displaying your number of checkins in the past 60 days at a specific venue would be incredibly helpful to those wishing to overtake the mayor of that location. This feature would be very useful across all application types: web, app, and mobile. Currently, Foursquare only shows the number of checkins in the last 60 days for the Mayor of that venue.

Location Specific Venues

Venues should be location specific not event specific. Conventions, parades, and events similar to these congest nearby “places” and also search results.

Venue Image

Creators of venues and business owners could add an image to the venue. Being able to add a logo would be useful for brand awareness of the business. Or they could provide a picture of the storefront helping users find their location.

Hours of Operation for Venues

Having hours of operation for venues editable by creators of venues, Super Users (SU’s), and Businesses would be useful for users wanting to visit that venue. These parameters should also be used to combat against users checking in to venues when the venue is truly not open.

Venue Ranking

Allowing users to rank venues will make it very helpful when looking at nearby “places” knowing if it is worth the travel. This would also benefit businesses as they could see how they are ranking in comparison to other local businesses.

If Foursquare were to implement any or all of these changes, they could expect to see a tremendous increase in user support and activity, thus cementing them as a true useful social media application.

Leave us a comment on your thoughts on the changes we have proposed or any ideas of your own.