When I was in Barcelona this week, I met up with Dennis Crowley, the CEO of Foursquare, just after he had gotten off stage from a keynote presentation with the CEOs of Nokia and HTC at Mobile World Congress.
The check-in app that was once little known outside of the world of tech early-adopters may only have around 15 million users, but that number has actually made it a leader in its field, and that has amplified the company (and Crowley).
In effect, Foursquare has become the mayor of mobile social location, and everyone watches it closely to see what it does now, and what it will do next.
Earlier today we published a longer interview with Foursquare’s Crowley. That was conducted, appropriately enough, in a very sunny square in the middle of the MWC event. (Dennis, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry again I made you sit facing the sun.)
I caught the first part of our conversation in a short video, and it complements that longer post. Which you should read.
Some of the subjects covered here: Crowley’s take on who the strong third player might be after Android and iOS; where international sits for Foursquare; and whether the company would ever move into making pared-down services for lower-end devices, as part of a growth strategy. (That’s worked pretty spectacularly for another social network, Facebook.) Take a look.
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...
Dennis Crowley is a co-founder of Foursquare, a location-based social networking service. Previously, he co-founded Dodgeball, a network of the same nature which sold to Google in 2005. He has been named one of the “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” by MIT’s Technology Review magazine (2005) and has won the “Fast Money” bonus round on the TV game show Family Feud (2009). His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time Magazine, Newsweek, MTV,...
Sponsored Ads
Sponsored Ads
Sponsored Ads
San Francisco, CA
