Social check-in service Foursquare will start displaying personalized coupons as a part of its application in July, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
When the start-up releases the next version of its mobile app, it will include functionality that displays promoted personalized local specials purchased by advertisers. For merchants, offering specials is free, but promoting them within the app will be a paid service. Users will be able to see all of the specials, but must check in to redeem them.
Last month, it was reported that Foursquare will launch an advertising platform in June that will allow merchants to promote their specials from within the application. This new version of the user software will apparently incorporate those promotions. The company says it has more than 750,000 businesses using its merchant platform.
Foursquare is working on collaborative filtering, so it will be able to recommend new venues to a user based on where they have been before, and where their friends have been. Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley tells the WSJ that results under the “Explore” tab will be customized to each individual, and will also take into account factors like the day of the week and the time of day the search is performed.
Foursquare claims more than 20 million users worldwide who, collectively, have performed more than 2 billion check-ins.
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