Foursquare Experiences Huge SXSW Growth Surge
In the days surrounding SXSW Interactive, the location-based social network Foursquare experienced a record growth of 100,000 users in 10 days. With a reported user base of about half a million, that's a pretty substantial increase.
It will be interesting to see if this growth will continue, albeit at a slower rate, or if use will taper off as excitement levels following SXSW wane. Will Foursquare follow in the wake of Twitter, or will users get tired of the fact that it really has only one basic functionality?
I see a certain appeal to location-based networking. If you check-in at a bar and your friend sees your update, maybe he'll come and join you for a beer. That's great if you live in a major metropolitan area and have a lot of friends using the service, but how does the rest of the country fit into this picture?
It's great that they've built the reasonably-sized, fairly devoted user base that they've got, but I'm not sure if the service has what it takes to make it to the next level. It's a fun, sort of useful service, especially when integrated with other social networks, but as a standalone service it just doesn't have the flexibility or wide-ranging potential of Twitter.
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