Foursquare has already given the technical reason why they keep going down (uneven database shards), but there must be some other reason why this is coming up right now, right? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that Foursquare has gone from 100 million check-ins to 200 million in just over two months.
The service coyly (and smartly) revealed that stat in the title of this morning’s post about yesterday’s downtime. Sure, part of it is likely a little passive-agressive misdirection, but Foursquare doesn’t bring up the stat again in the entire post. And that’s smart — no one wants to hear you boasting about stats when they can’t use your service.
It was only this past July 20, when Foursquare’s Tristan Walker disclosed in a tweet that Foursquare had crossed the 100 million check-in threshold. By my count, it took them about 16 months to get that far. Now, incredibly just over two months later, they’ve doubled it.
That kind of rapid ramp up would undoubtedly be difficult for any startup to deal with. Here’s hoping they get things figured out.
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...
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
