Wesley83's Blog

SquarePik Adds Photos and Video to Foursquare

by rahsheen

March 22, 2010

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Foursquare has gained a lot of popularity as one of the forerunners in the location-based application race, facing such competition as Gowalla and Yelp. All of these services are basically the same, but SquarePik adds another dimension of interaction that makes Foursquare just a little more interesting. SquarePik integrates with Foursquare to provide a method for attaching photos and videos to your checkins.

SquarePik is the brainchild of Pikchur Inc. (our coverage) and 39 Inc. It is currently only available as an iPhone application, which you can get from the App Store for $1.99. SquarePik works in three easy steps:

1. Choose a venue from the list, or create one if it doesn’t exist
2. Take a photo or record a video
3. SquarePik automatically checks you in at that location

Not only will SquarePik give you the ability to add rich media to your Foursquare checkins, but it also lets you view any media that others have shared while checking in at that location. This opens up a few different and interesting possibilities. Foursquare has already created a game around their location checkins, but an individual visiting any venue could start their very own game or meme. Those visiting after the fact would see the photo/video and copy it. A real-estate agent could checkin at various properties that they manage and post media describing the details and “secrets” of that property. An artist could post media related to a live performance at a specific venue. People attending any event after that would be able to see, via SquarePik, exactly how that event went down and possibly gain the artist some new fans.

The possibilities here are very interesting and make me think of a Lokast-type system, with the ability to leave things behind for others to find. Also, combined with Zillow, this could be a powerful tool for Real Estate agents. A trusted source tells me that SquarePik may eventually grow into a “full-blown Foursquare client.” That should open up some interesting possibilities in it’s own right. The only thing I wish for is the ability to access SquarePik via the web. Pikchur and Foursquare both have web interfaces, so it’s not much of a stretch.

Category: Reviews | Tags: 39 inc., foursquare, location based services, pikchur