In the spring of 2009, Naveen Selvadurai and Dennis Crowley co-founded the Foursquare app and launched it in the App Store. By 2011, the app had a whopping 10 million users, which is still increasing today. Foursquare was developed and launched by Foursquare Labs, Inc., who has a second app called Swarm, also available in the App Store. The app is used to find new locations to eat, drink, and visit around your city. Foursquare is considered an “essential” app. It can be used in 13 different langues and is also accessible on the Apple Watch.

Foursquare is a great app to have to find new places in the Northern Virginia area. After creating an account, the user can look for their interests, which can include certain foods that they like, such as milkshakes or steak, activities they like to do, such as bowling or reading, and certain aspects they look for in a location, like free wifi and comfortable seating. Foursquare then takes the interests and finds places within the user’s areas that might appeal to them with features of displaying a menu, providing directions, and a shortcut to find an Uber to take the user to the location. This app also allows someone to see pictures from the location that features some of the food selections the restaurant has, in addition to tips and reviews from other users in the area that have been to that location. Foursquare also allows their users to “save” their locations so they can return to or remember the location in the future for a different time. Not only is it perfect for the Northern Virginia area, but when the user travels, it can also locate new places within the city they are currently in. Foursquare has all of these features and more that makes it appealing to its audience and successful in the App Store.

The Foursquare app, popular around the country, is not as popular in the Oakton community. On average, 28 out of 100 students knew about the app, but none of them had ever used it before. Seventy-two students would download it, 12 had thoughts about downloading it, and 16 students would not download Foursquare, saying that they would rather search on Google for new places to try. The most common types of places Oakton students would look for if they had the app would be restaurants for any types of food. Students also said they would look for bakeries, coffee shops, bookstores, and recreational places.

Although the app’s 10 million users don’t include many Oakton students, Foursquare is avant-garde in its new paths to finding locations in Northern Virginia. This creation from Foursquare Labs is a fantastic solution to the never-ending question of “What do you want to do?” and is beneficial to the student always looking for something different to do with their friends and family.