Concept
Big American media brands massively use Foursquare for their marketing efforts. HBO, Warner Brothers, New York Times, Bravo, History Channel en Metro News have all made commercial deals with Foursquare. This mobile service is aimed at “sharing experiences” when people go out. Users can check in with their smart phone and check at the Foursquare page at which hospitality place they are (cafe, restaurants etc). They can leave comments about these places. Users can also score points by frequently checking in. By this they earn a certain status which is rewarded by badges.
Business model
The service wants to make money with it by sponsoring deals, not with advertisement. The deals made with the big media companies have several services: e.g. Warner Brothers serves Foursquare members with tips for romantic places in their city and remembers the client when a film is starting, TV broadcaster Bravo serves Foursquare members with discount coupons when they check-in at certain places. The American restaurant guide Zagat serves restaurant tips and the New York Times visitor can win a special Vancouver badge. All these services are only delivered via opt-in. The Foursquare member has to give permission for the services.
Foursquare has now 200.000 members and figures are rising quickly. The servers get more then 1 million check-ins per week. Applications are available for Android, i-Phone, Palm, Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Foursquare started the service in a couple of cities but is now available worldwide.
So indeed it seems that Locative media and business are finding each other.
Check out this video, which is recorded at TED.