Now that Facebook Places has launched, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley is getting bombarded by questions asking if he’s going to get, well, “crushed.” The answer (which is “no,” of course) reveals hints about upcoming Foursquare features, some of which are rolling out in a new app version in the next couple weeks. Reports Mashable:
Crowley says that they’re rebuilding the entire infrastructure around tips and to-dos to help users connect what they browse online with what they do when they’re out and about. The new version will also tie game mechanics to tips and to-dos and provide incentives for those behaviors.
Or as Crowley explains it, “We are trying to bridge the things you read about online and want to experience offline and the actual experience offline.” Hmmm. This sounds like it will allow you to tie links to locations somehow, which certainly would be of interest to local media and neighborhood bloggers. (You can currently leave tips, but there’s no easy way to include links in them.) Then there’s this bit of speculation from SFGate:
Foursquare is closer to developing a real coupon business. If it can find a way to share a cut of that business with the appsmakers who “refer” check-ins, then that will encourage developers to stick with Foursquare.
With Groupon, LivingSocial and all the others playing aggressively in local deal/coupon space, it will be interesting to see what Foursquare comes up with. Stay tuned…
