Foursquare and Twitter Up the Information Ante

Very quietly, and with seemingly little fanfare, social media services Foursquare and Twitter have made significant changes to their ways and openness of presenting the information they have about their users, and how they connect with one another.

Let's start with the location-based platform Foursquare. Now, after successfully checking into a location or venue, the confirmation screen that pops up on your mobile device provides additional information on how often you have checked in, and where you stand in your personal quest to become mayor of said venue.

One day I will be mayor of Penn Station...just you wait and see!
Perhaps these improvements were in the works long before the last week's launch of potential rival Facebook Places, but one cannot also help but observe how these changes help to further differentiate Foursquare from the social media behemoth. Whereas Facebook Places appears to be more about sharing information with friends and connecting with potential marketers (willingly or unwillingly), Foursquare's "mayor" titles add an underlying aspect of competition and urgency to its service that make it feel far more compelling to use time and again. I, for one, have been repeatedly frustrated with visiting foursquare.com while trying to figure out how close I am to gaining that coveted mayor status; the increased transparency is long awaited and much appreciated!

Meanwhile, Twitter likewise has exponentially improved the volume and quality of information contained in each "new follower" e-mail notification. Whereas determining the validity of new contacts often proved a chore -- is he or she merely a spammer? a broadcaster uninterested in conversation? a follower with no tweets? -- now nearly all the details you could ever want on your new potential contact are right there in an easy-to-digest format, including:

• Mutual connections;
• Info on if you follow the person or not already;
• Basic profile demographics (followers, following, tweets, location, bio);
• Handy links right back to the new user's profile; and even
• Information on how to use Twitter on a mobile device, if you are checking e-mail while away from the computer.

Heck, there's even a link to report the user as a potential spammer if that appears to be the case!



These tweaks take a lot of the guesswork out of the following process, and are welcome improvements. There is no such thing as too much information in this digital age, and both services should be applauded for their recent moves towards transparency and openness.