Foursquare has received $35 million in a recent round of fund raising, which will help it reduce its debts.
Among the early social networks that took advantage of the growth in smartphone user numbers, Foursquare has always been different. Unlike other social networks that allow posting, photos and micro blogging "statuses," Foursquare focuses exclusively on geolocation based "check-ins." In fact, Foursquare was the one that introduced the "check-in" concept. Due to the popularity of this feature, other social networks such as Facebook and Google + also integrated a check-in function into their respective platforms. While its peers went on to become social media leaders, Foursquare has been struggling to keep up. In fact, the company ended up with $41 million debt after the company struggled to raise money in an earlier fund raising drive in April this year.
However, things are turning around for Foursquare, which has announced that it has successfully raised $35 million in a recent funding campaign. This is a good sign for the veteran social network as it suggests that many investors have a positive outlook on the future of company.
The early days of Foursquare had users competing for badges in an effort to become the mayor of their chosen locations. The more check-ins a user had, the higher the odds of becoming mayor. This was a gimmicky approach and while users had fun at first, the novelty quickly wore off and people quickly went back to using Facebook and Twitter. These days however, Foursquare is focusing on a new approach aimed at encouraging people to explore the world around them. Users can now get help from Foursquare regarding good places to shop at or great restaurants to dine in. Foursquare has also made improvements to its GPS capabilities allowing for more accurate results.
While the early features such as badges are still available for users, the company has also been adding new features such as real-time push notifications. With the new funds the company has received, users may see even more new features within the next few months.
Location-based apps and services are clearly here to stay, which is arguably one of the reasons why Google recently purchased Waze for a sum of $1 billion. However, Foursquare will have a difficult road ahead of it if it wants to corner location-based social networking.
