The Biggest Challenge Foursquare Faces

Simply put: Foursquare has to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. The mobile check-in application has struggled to find its way since its early days. At first, it seemed as though Foursquare was content to let its business model evolve. After all, this worked well for Twitter, and Twitter was one of the two companies being emulated at the time (the other, obviously, was Facebook). Unfortunately for Foursquare, the winds shifted, and once hot, it has been sidelined by new players such as Pinterest and Instagram.

Do people still want check-ins?

Well, Foursquare has around 20 mn users, and plenty of them still hit the service. So, it looks like the company still has a future. The big question is what that will be. Foursquare needs to solve its identity issues. If it had done so back in 2010, it would be in great shape right now – and the story would be incredible. By waiting, however, Foursquare has made this a truly urgent problem, and it needs to take action immediately. It has the cash to make a bold move: now, the company needs to put that money to work.