Foursquare takes on Yelp with public user review pages
Often times when users check in to a location using Foursquare, they forget to leave a tip or review behind. Foursquare wants to correct that.
In an effort to push itself as a destination for looking up user reviews (and possibly to take on Yelp and similar competitors), Foursquare is launching a new feature that enables users to turn their accounts into more visible pages.
In an effort to populate its service with more content on the 500,000 merchants it lists, Foursquare is launching a version of its pages application this week, allowing anyone, from a major brand to an avid citizen, to create a page and leave tips for other users to follow. To be clear, current users' pages can't be turned into follow pages, but anyone can create a new account to be followed. The company intends the change to appeal more to brands.
There are a few requirements for users and business owners/managers who want to create these followable pages, such as a minimum of five tips/reviews and uploading a picture to his or her account. These accounts will also not have the ability to see where friends are as these accounts don't technically have friends, but rather just followers. Think more like Facebook Pages for groups and businesses rather than a person's profile.
Thus, these account members don't even need to be in the same place to leave a review, unlike the traditional Foursquare account.
Previously, businesses had the option of publishing a brand page since last year, but it was a complicated process that entailed sending Excel files back and forth with Foursquare HQ.
Last week, Foursquare announced a new deal with Groupon to bring the daily deal behemoth's instant offers program to the geo-tagging app. Foursquare already has similar deals and features in place in partnership with LivingSocial and AT&T Interactive, among others.
Back in June 27, Foursquare proved its worth...so to speak. The New York City-based startup announced that it has raised an additional $50 million in its latest round of venture capital fundraising, bringing the company's total value to approximately $600 million.
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