Foursquare

The book I read to research this post was Sam's Teach Yourself Foursquare In 10 Minutes which is a very good book which I read on

http://safaribooksonline.com

I assume the 10 minutes in the title refer to each chapter which are quite short and succint.The book is around 125 pages and contains quite a lot of information about Foursquare. It is a location based marketing site which in turn is a form of social media site. The idea is you have friends whom you tell where you are and you have followers who tell you where they are but aren't told where you are. This allows more privacy than say facebook and the idea is you can meet up with your friends or followers and if you are in a strange place you can get recommendations ie for where to eat. If you visit somewhere the most you become mayor until beaten by someone. Some places give a free gift to the current mayor. There is quite a long process in putting a business establishment into Foursquare and establishing ownership which typically takes 10 days and Foursquare do check you are who you say you are. Your clientele can also rate your business from 1-5. Foursquare is the biggest location based marketing site with over a million members. They offer apps for most of the major mobile devices and this is essential to tell people where you are. Finally some businesses offer virtual gifts which is still in its infancy but sure to catch on. I really enjoyed this book and it's very interesting.