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Foursquare uses 3 billion check-ins and 10 million tips to create ‘most awesome places in the US’ lists

Lists, lists, lists. They’re everywhere, on the web, in apps, scrawled across notebooks and in our heads. For me, it’s all about the to-do list. Although I only ever want to have one to-do list, I somehow end up with several on the go at any given time, all of which have things written on them like “find main list” or “make definitive list” or, when they really start getting into my head and keeping me awake at night, “quit making lists”. But of course, I don’t.

And now location-based social network Foursquare has added to the lists of the world, announcing on Wednesday the creation of The Best of Foursquare 2012 comprising a bunch of best-of lists born out of three billion check-ins by its users as well as tips numbering in the tens of millions.

The site says it has compiled lists of “the most awesome places” in 30 cities across the US and urges users to “take a look, see if your favorites made the cut, and save some spots for your next weekend out.”

“These best of lists are based on the ratings we give to millions of places on Foursquare,” the site said in a post on its blog. “We use signals like tips, likes, dislikes, popularity, local expertise, and nearly three billion check-ins from over 30 million people worldwide to determine how much people love a place.”

Multiple lists

To explore The Best of Foursquare 2012, click on a location and you’ll be presented with top 10 lists for subjects such as nightlife and food, with the ability to drill down to specific cuisines and such like.

The lists compilations have served to highlight the uniqueness of each city, the company said in its post.

“Bostonians love seafood, Portland is a veggie paradise, and Philly may be the city of brotherly love, but what they really love is a good sandwich,” Foursquare said.

The new ‘best of’ page underlines the way in which the service is continuing its efforts to broaden its appeal as it attempts to position itself as a Yelp-like search engine and recommendation platform in a drive to attract more users.

Right, off to make another list now.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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