Foursquare took to its blog to announce an update for its Android app, which recommends popular places, sites and attractions. The recommendations bar shows up as soon as the app is launched.
Foursquare, a geo-tagging social media platform, has grown in popularity by letting users "check-in" their locations and it has been used by advertisers to reach the users with promotions and specials.
The new update is essentially an add-on to what Foursquare already offers, but borrows from the specialty of Yelp, a reviews site. The Android app will be constantly updated and will notify users of recently opened restaurants and other places.
Foursquare users' reactions was mixed. In the comments on Foursquare's blog, user "dmo580" rhetorically asked "can we just keep a standard 4sq UI across platforms? Maybe Windows Phone can have a different one due to Metro, but features like long press to check in should be deployed simultaneously across iOS and Android."
Another user, "mitya," said the recent Foursquare updates "have been very liberal with 'around' you, constantly showing me places that are up to 20 miles from where I am standing (and zooming out on my screen to do so)."
At SXSW Interactive Festival, Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley told CNET that "if we keep doing what we're doing, we make the previous generation of local search products irrelevant" - a rather direct shot at Yelp.
