Earlier this week, Foursquare announced a new change which will prevent users from cheating by checking into locations when they are not actually present at the said site. Previously, users could check in to locations from the comfort of their homes, and still earn points, badges, mayorships and venue specials, whether or not they were actually present at that location. The new changes allow Foursquare to use your phone’s GPS and “other tricks” to verify that you’re actually where you check in.
Now, if you’re on your couch and you check in to a venue, you’ll still be able to broadcast to your friends that you’re at this location (or at least pretending to be at this location), but you will not earn any of the rewards such as points, mayorships or specials. This cheaters code not only evens the playing field for users competing in the gaming aspect of Foursquare, but it increases the appeal for businesses to tap into the Foursquare space.
One way businesses are able to take advantage of Foursquare is by serving up exclusive specials, which have the ability to encourage customer loyalty. For instance, a restaurant could create a special such as “For every five check ins, you will receive a complimentary beverage.” On the 5th checkin, the special is unlocked and the user simply shows the message to his/her server to receive their free drink.
In the past, there was concern that users could simply unlock the special without fulfilling the requirements, by checking in at home. Now, businesses can have peace of mind knowing that their specials are not being served up to any user who exploits the system, but rather they’re being used to engage and reward some of their most loyal customers.
Interested in reading more about Foursquare? Read about the basics here, or check-out this video with more information on Foursquare’s business applications.
