Knoxville: Foursquare is Here -- and Everywhere!

Knoxville: Foursquare is Here — and Everywhere!

6 January 2010 580 views Comments

foursquarecheckin I’ve been begging and pleading for Foursquare, the location-based, game-like social network to come to Knoxville for some time now…and yesterday, my wish came true! In fact, Foursquare has opened its doors to all towns and cities globally!

But being that I’m in Knoxville, that’s how I’m going to focus this post…

Like a little kid on Christmas, I signed up to Foursquare the moment I found out. Now, you can just type in your city (no more drop-down with large metros only).

But because I’m one of maybe 10 people in Knoxville on it as of yet, I pretty much have to add any venue I end up at (no Knoxville venues are really on there right now). Still, I’ve had two check-ins so far and have unlocked one badge! Woohoo!

So far it seems fun, and I hope some Knoxville venues pick up on it soon and start offering discounts and rewards like those in other cities.

I also hope to see some more Knoxvillians sign up! So feel free to become my Foursquare friend : )

**Want to learn more? Check out my post on the ReadPyxl blog on what Foursquare could mean for Knoxville business.

Patrick Beeson

So what exactly, does FourSquare do for users and followers? What's the value here?

Most of what I've seen periferally have been annoyingly odd Tweets polluting my Twitter stream.

Nicole VanScoten

I just posted a more in-depth answer on the Pyxl blog as well (lots of people were asking similar questions). If you're interested, you can check it out at http://www.thinkpyxl.com/blog/?p=667 : ) Thanks for the comment!

Nicole VanScoten

As far as I know and can tell, you earn points when you "check-in" places, add venues, etc. You're rewarded with more points as you explore different parts of the city and visit new venues, visit multiple places in one night, and leave tips for other people about certain venues (an example could be: "Make sure you try the lobster mac & cheese at Cafe 4")...so there's value for the business and for other people visiting that venue.

You can also become the "mayor" of a certain place if you check-in at the same location a few times. It's kind of like a competition. Plus, from what I've seen in other cities, the mayor can often get free stuff at locations that offer it (hopefully some Knoxville businesses catch on soon).

So essentially, the value for users can be free stuff, special deals, etc...and of course being able to see what other people have said about a certain establishment and finding out about new spots.

The value for businesses is that they can get more people by offering special deals to the mayor and other foursquare users. They can also benefit from people including tips about them. It's basically free promotion from what I can tell.