Not much has been said on how Foursquare will work when it earlier announced it was splitting into two platforms, getting rid of the popular check-in feature and introducing a new social network app called Swarm.
Now, it was made clear: mayorships and badges in the primary Foursquare app are moving over to Swarm.
"To prepare for these new features, starting today, there will be no more ousting of mayors in the Foursquare app. This'll help make way for mayors 2.0 in Swarm. The Foursquare app, for the time being, will continue to show the mayor as of today, frozen in place. The list of proud mayorships you hold will continue to be displayed on your profile," the company writes in its blog.
The company didn't' make it clear how long would the mayorship display last before getting taken off completely from the app.
Though the mayors 2.0 in Swarm has its basis on the same 60-day historical window, which means if the person is already a mayor of a place where he and his friends go to, then he will also become a mayor among his friends in the new app. Or let's say, whoever has been there most as of late will get a crown sticker. However, the competition will no longer be among 50 million people on Foursquare, but limited within circle of friends. With such set-up, there will be many mayors for a single place, one mayor for each circle of friends.
"Mayors were great when Foursquare was small and you were competing against your friends to rule the neighborhood coffee shop, but as more people signed up, earning a mayor crown became impossible," the company explains the reason for the change in mayorships.
Meanwhile, the badges, which are a form of recognition and reward for people who find amazing things in real world, are said to continue in the Foursquare trophy case, but in the form of a "spiritual successor" which was not elaborated in the blog post. More details are coming up, though.
Also revealed in the blog post is a new feature in the form of stickers, which can be attached to the person's check-ins aimed at expressing briefly what the person is doing or how he is feeling at the moment.
Yet some analysts are hesitant of the major changes in Foursquare.
"Everything Foursquare was built on is essentially tossed out the window," CEO Sam Hamadeh of private capital research firm Privco, says to Fox Business. "For a company that has raised so much venture capital money at such a high valuation, it's that dreaded brick wall for a startup: years that every founder and VC dreads most: 'The Pivot.'"
Though the new direction of the company, according to research, may have come from the pressure of being able to monetize the business.
The Swarm app for iOS and Android devices will come next week, while the new Foursquare app will follow suit anytime in the summer.
