Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The New Foursquare

avc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 77 posts

Re: The New Foursquare

#21

Post by uptown »

mathattack wrote: post #15
acquiHire2014 wrote: post #2

They've sacrificed their core of users who supplied all of the checkins and tips in order to try to kill Yelp. Problem was, only those loyal users were ever convinced that they were better than yelp. Now that they've chosen the foursquare name, which is synonymous with checkins, for their Yelp clone, it seems like they haven't thought out... 1. If the checkin users leave because Swarm is stupid and eliminates everyth…

I recall seeing a data presentation on 4square a few months ago, and the numbers suggested that check-ins were tapering. They definitely realized that all their corporate value was in the data. Perhaps they are trying to avoid the split issues from Netflix? I think they needed to give the Foursquare name to the Yelp-killer so that people would know about it. The space is too crowded to start from scratch. And Yelp is…

"And Yelp is ready to be killed."

Why? Is that your personal sentiment on their company, or are you suggesting their business isn't successful? Who's their biggest competitor? They killed Citysearch, and Sheckys, and all the other websites that used to dominate that space, but I can't think of another company that comes close to their brand awareness apart from Google, who probably won't dominate since it's not their primary function.

Re: The New Foursquare

#23

Post by gagaga »

uptown wrote: post #21
mathattack wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall seeing a data presentation on 4square a few months ago, and the numbers suggested that check-ins were tapering. They definitely realized that all their corporate value was in the data. Perhaps they are trying to avoid the split issues from Netflix? I think they needed to give the Foursquare name to the Yelp-killer so that people would know about it. The space is too crowded to start from scratch. And Yelp is…

"And Yelp is ready to be killed." Why? Is that your personal sentiment on their company, or are you suggesting their business isn't successful? Who's their biggest competitor? They killed Citysearch, and Sheckys, and all the other websites that used to dominate that space, but I can't think of another company that comes close to their brand awareness apart from Google, who probably won't dominate since it's not their…

Yelp's ratings, reviews, recommendations, and tips aren't very good for food, bars, and things to do. I've always found Foursquare's to be much higher quality.

Re: The New Foursquare

#24

Post by antr »

nroach wrote: post #19
jgalt212 wrote: post #9

Wow, coordinated assaults from two of their larger backers (USV and AH). Please, please Marissa Mayer take us out of this bad trade.

Yes, and the article reads like an advertisement. I generally like reading AVC posts because there's often some thought-provoking questions or other insight with broader application. Not so on this one. I guess the take-away point with this one is going to be long-term, watching to see if they're successful in using empty buzz to generate an exit.

Last year's round of financing was primarily a loan from Silver Lake. Loans (venture loans), on a company/asset that hasn't got genuine revenues is really expensive, both the interests, and size – I'm assuming it's an interest accruing loan (no way can FourSquare pay cash interests). This scenario should be eating everyone's returns.

The post definitely comes across as a 'Hey, look at us!', the new logo, new apps, is also a sign that FourSquare wants to transmit the message of 'We are still alive and doing 'cool' stuff', but my understanding is that they are trying not to appear stale, which to me they are. I don't think the top line operational metrics are doing that well. I think all parties are trying to save the day with some type of 0.8x-1x cash invested sale price. I even think that is ambitious. Do startups that are doing well market themselves as 'The New Twitter', 'The New Facebook', 'The New Google', no – something isn't working. Time will tell.

Re: The New Foursquare

#26

Post by TarpitCarnivore »

untog wrote: post #5
acquiHire2014 wrote: post #2

They've sacrificed their core of users who supplied all of the checkins and tips in order to try to kill Yelp. Problem was, only those loyal users were ever convinced that they were better than yelp. Now that they've chosen the foursquare name, which is synonymous with checkins, for their Yelp clone, it seems like they haven't thought out... 1. If the checkin users leave because Swarm is stupid and eliminates everyth…

Yelp but with shorter reviews That's actually something I really want. I'm sick of reading "My fiancee and I were walking down Main St, browsing restaurants, when we happened to notice . She likes fish, so we were looking for fish dishes..." As for the rest of it - you're likely right. But the old Foursquare wasn't generating money. So either you abandon your hardcore users by shutting down, or you attempt to move th…

My biggest complaint about Yelp is the same as yours, nearly everyone is a "foodie" and trying to write reviews like they're part of the New York Times.

Re: The New Foursquare

#27

Post by sureshv »

lukasm wrote: post #6

I have 2.4Ghz i5, 8G Ram, SSD Macbook and the performance of the landing page is horrendous.

Not sure its the performance as much as the paged scrolling animation which doesn't let you scroll through the pages quickly.

Re: The New Foursquare

#28

Post by x3c »

matthewwiese wrote: post #22

Does their new welcome page look broken/ugly to anyone else? I'm wondering if it's just on my end; scroll down past the initial tick. https://foursquare.com/download#welcome

I didn't even realize that the page was scrollable. And, it's broken for me too. Latest FF on Mac OSX.

Re: The New Foursquare

#29

Post by jmathai »

gagaga wrote: post #23
uptown wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And Yelp is ready to be killed." Why? Is that your personal sentiment on their company, or are you suggesting their business isn't successful? Who's their biggest competitor? They killed Citysearch, and Sheckys, and all the other websites that used to dominate that space, but I can't think of another company that comes close to their brand awareness apart from Google, who probably won't dominate since it's not their…

Yelp's ratings, reviews, recommendations, and tips aren't very good for food, bars, and things to do. I've always found Foursquare's to be much higher quality.

I think the parent was suggesting that Yelp is good enough. When you have a brand as recognizable as Yelp and viewed as "good enough" then it becomes nearly impossible for a competitor to beat them by simply being better.

You have to be different and I'm not sure what needs to be different about Yelp.

Re: The New Foursquare

#30

Post by andmarios »

Imo this is one of the worst business moves I've seen. Old 4sq? Loved it. New 4sq and swarm? Won't bother.

I may sound harsh but this is how I feel as a user. Foursquare had a perfect mix of social, gamification and information. It made you want to be part of its network.

As for swarm, I don't even understand how they thought that it would make a nice name except that it is marginally better than herd. Why a human would want to be part of a swarm?

Post reply on HN