When Facebook recently announced its initiative Nearby Friends, it gave us one more way to locate people close by. Now, in an effort to continue its reign in the location-services industry, friend-locating app Foursquare is improving its services, changing its purpose and splitting itself in two.
Foursquare has tens of millions of users who use it for two main functions: to locate and meet up with friends and to discover places to go, from restaurants and bars to attractions and beyond. But Foursquare found that people used the app for only one of these purposes at a time. Because of that, the social-networking website announced today that they will launch a separate, new app Swarm to locate friends. Swarm will make it easier and faster for users to find where their friends are and contact them. Checking-in will now be a function of Swarm only
Foursquare, on the other hand, won’t just be about locating the closest areas and activities anymore, but about providing users with suggestions and recommendations about local places they might enjoy. Users will be able to get personalized local search results based on individual preferences. In helping users explore and discover great, nearby places and providing informaiton on spots around town, Foursquare will compete against Yelp and related companies.
So, if you are looking to meet up with your friends, Swarm is the app for you. If you are looking for great places to go, Foursquare will help you figure it out.
Swarm will be available for iOS and Android devices in the coming weeks, and later for the Windows Phone.
