Foursquare & The Presidential Campaign
In the overpopulated social media landscape, apps need to constantly reinvent themselves before users lose interest and the initial excitement turns stale. Facebook and Twitter have the right idea; remember the craze behind the like button or the ability to retweet?
Well, Foursquare, like many others, started off as just another avenue of social connection. In this case you check-in to a location and your friends can creepily keep tabs on your whereabouts and adventures.
However, Foursquare has shifted its focus and become a way to discover your surroundings by searching for what you want. Need the closest wi-fi hotspot? Just enter it in the search bar. It maintains the “social” in social media by factoring in check-ins from friends to recommend places for you. Not a bad tradeoff for giving up your privacy.
In an effort to evolve from its humble beginnings in 2009, Foursquare is getting actively involved with the upcoming election. The company recently teamed up with NBC News to map out, in real time, where candidates will be making campaign stops and where their campaign trail has taken them.
“All politics is local, and Foursquare is all about where you are and what you’re doing; it’s the perfect way for politicians to communicate their actions to their constituency,” says a Foursquare representative.
If you couple Foursquare’s solid design and rare software crashes with innovative ideas, then people just might stay checked in for a while.
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