Geolocation service Foursquare is on the rise. Founded in 2009, by this week it has registered over a half million merchants, after counting 10 million users in June. Foursquare is trying to define itself as a standalone social media platform. This seems to be working; even in the face of Facebook Places and Google Places, the company continues to grow.

The service entices users with playful incentives to check in to locations--usually local businesses--using badges to indicate the frequency of visits and assigning "mayor" status to a site's top visitor in a given day. Using Foursquare can be simply fun, but it can also earn customers discounts and freebies.


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