Foursquare now has targeted adds

Following in the footsteps of Twitter and Facebook, Foursquare has now gotten into the “Promoted” game. According to reports online, Foursquare now has “Promoted Updates” – its first paid product offering for merchants. Business owners are now able to send local updates i.e. specials for the day, or a picture promoting a new outdoor seating area to their “best customers” when they’re nearby. These best customers are those who check in frequently to that place or have Liked it before.

But unlike other services, these ads aren’t intrusive and only appear in the Explore tab, which isn’t such a bad thing. After all, regular customers definitely wouldn’t mind being informed about a deal they might have missed. At the moment Promoted Updates are only rolling out to a handful of large chains i.e. Gap, Old Navy, Hilton, JC Penney, Best Buy and Walgreens – but you can expect more to arrive in the future. What do you think of these Promoted Updates?

George Wong
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Apps, foursquare