Big news from Foursquare today. No, not that news (just yet). And okay, not really that big. Still, very useful.
Foursquare has given its friend request emails a nice upgrade today. Previously, all you would see is a text note that someone wanted to be your friend. If you wanted to learn anything about them, you had to click-through to their profile page on foursquare.com. But starting today, Foursquare has a new notification email system that includes the user’s profile picture and more importantly, an area noting what friends you have in common.
Right above the button to add that person as a friend (which takes you to your pending friend requests page), you’ll see a new area that reads “Also, it looks like you have some friends in common:” Below that, you’ll see a picture of the friends you have in common. This is very helpful for a service like Foursquare because you’re likely only going to want to follow people you really know. And friends in common is a great way to tell that — something which Facebook uses to great effect as well.
Of course, not everyone uses Foursquare that way. For example, Robert Scoble has about 8,500 stalkers (I mean, “friends”). Not surprisingly, the first new Foursquare notification I received showed that we had Scoble in common as a friend. So basically, Scoble may have broken this system before it even started.
Foursquare is a geographical location based social network that incorporates gaming elements. Users share their location with friends by “checking in” via a smartphone app or by text message. Points are awarded for checking in at various venues. Users can connect their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which can update when a check in is registered. By checking in a certain number of times, or in different locations, users can collect virtual badges. In addition, users...
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