Developer(s) | Foursquare Labs |
---|---|
Initial release | May 5, 2014 |
Stable release(s) | |
Platform | iOS, Android |
Available in | 12 languages |
Type | Social networking service |
Website | www |
Foursquare Swarm is a mobile app that allows users to share their locations with their friends and create a record of their experiences in a personal lifelog. Swarm launched for iOS and Android devices on May 15, 2014. A spin-off from and companion app to Foursquare City Guide, Swarm allows users to check-in to a given location, [3] and see who is nearby. [4] These check-ins are chronologically listed to create a personal lifelog for each user, which serves as a digital library for all the places they have been, in a searchable database that can be revisited and shared.
Location and check-in data collected in Swarm are used to improve a user's recommendations in Foursquare City Guide. Splitting check-ins and general location sharing in to the separate Swarm app was designed to let the main Foursquare app focus on exploring and discovering information on locations, in a Yelp-like fashion. [5] Swarm supports checking in with photos or stickers attached to it, and allows broadcasting of check-ins to other social networks including Facebook and Twitter. Swarm features include a shareable interactive personalized map, and unique stats like total lifetime check-ins, number of unique categories visited, and data on streaks and Foursquare 'mayorships' (a feature of the platforms gamification elements).
Swarm 5.0, released on iOS August 8, 2017 and on Android August 16, 2017, was the most significant update to the app’s core functionality since launching in 2014, focusing more on lifelogging.
Major features include check-ins, [6] [ non-primary source needed ] [7] messaging, [8] stickers, [9] [ non-primary source needed ] challenges, [10] [ non-primary source needed ] 'mayorships', [11] [ non-primary source needed ] history search, [12] and merchandise.
CNET described the app as a "bold move", and praised it for removing some of the "clutter" of Foursquare and focusing on letting the user "quickly see where your friends are and make plans". [13] The redesign was unpopular with some existing Foursquare users, who complained about its lack of gamification elements, and the need to download two apps for what used to be contained in a single Foursquare app. [14]
A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people live their lives. In recent years, some lifelog data has been automatically captured by wearable technology or mobile devices. People who keep lifelogs about themselves are known as lifeloggers.
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Foursquare Labs Inc., commonly known as Foursquare, is a geolocation technology company and data cloud platform based in the United States. Founded by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in 2009, the company rose to prominence with the launch of its local search-and-discovery mobile app. The app, Foursquare City Guide, popularized the concept of real-time location sharing and checking-in.