Face-to-Face Socializing Starts With A Mobile Post

NY TIMES - Oct 18 - A combination of friend-finder, city guide and competitive bar game, Foursquare lets users “check in” with a cellphone at a bar, restaurant or art gallery. That alerts their friends to their current location so they can drop by and say hello. Just seven months old with ~60,000 users so far, Foursquare is still getting off the ground. Other companies, like BrightKite, Loopt and Google Latitude, are also offering services aimed at helping friends find each other on the go but Foursquare has attracted more attention in part because it incorporates elements of gaming and social competition. The system awards points and virtual badges to players depending on how often they go out and which places they visit. So far, Foursquare has no revenue, and the company is still developing its business model. In September, the company landed a $1.35M round of venture financing, led by Union Square Ventures, which previously backed Twitter and Meetup. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES