Foursquare has tied notifications into website activity, rather than only notifying users of friend check-ins or opening up a new badge. Notifications include an alert when you are no longer Mayor of a location, and an alert when a Facebook friend joins Foursquare. Alerts will also appear for comments on your check-in, follow-up comments made by friends, friends using your location tips, adding a place to your To-Do list that a friend has added and location swarming. Notifications are found in the top navigation menu bar on the Web and a blue notifications bar on the Android application. According to Foursquare, users can turn off notifications based on type and opt out of the notification system completely if they choose. Users can also choose to mute notifications for an hour or a 24-hour period.
Foursquare is planning to release updates to its iPhone and Blackberry applications in the near future. In 2009, the iPhone Foursquare app launched prior to the Android version. However, Android devices received this update prior to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. The new notification system comes on the heels of the announcement of the Foursquare-American-Express partnership, as well as the recently released Windows Phone 7 version of the Foursquare application on July 1. The WP7 version of the Foursquare app was completely rebuilt for the operating system and utilizes the panoramic UI interface. It also includes a on- tap check-in, sorting functions, mapping of friends and places as well as leaderboard reporting.
The expansion into site activity notifications brings Foursquare a step closer to Facebook notifications, as well as the recently launched Google+ social network. Similar to Facebook, each notification sends an email into a user’s inbox as well.
