For those that haven’t heard about FourSquare, you can check it out here.

Basically, it is a mobile application which enables you to “check-in” to destinations around your city, leave comments, offer suggestions, redeem discounts, earn points, unlock badges and even become the “mayor” of certain destinations.

Sounds a bit confusing? Yeah I thought so too.

Basically, if you have an iPhone or Android phone you can download the app, and any other phones can access FourSquare through their mobile browser.

When you are out and about in the city, you can “check-in” when you arrive at certain places e.g. cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, offices etc.

Once your friends catch onto the FourSquare phase, you can keep track of where they are checking into, and start learning more about the places they frequent, and see when you are in the vicinity of your friends

I think the real benefits come from the commercial side of FourSquare. It offers the opportunity to leave feedback about your destinations, and this feedback can be a lot more useful than your standard restaurant review. If your local bar makes an amazing Long Island Ice Tea, leave a tip for others that are in the area. Get firsthand recommendations from real people.

There is also discounts and special offer coupons in place – participating venues can offer deals to FourSquare users.

There is also the gameplay side of the app to keep people interested, which enables you to earn points when you check in to venues, and if you visit a destination more than once in a day you become the mayor of that destination until someone visits it more than you.

We have come up with similar concepts to this in a few brain storm sessions, so it’s good to see something similar popping up in the real world.

I’m looking forward to start getting out there and checking in, and I think that as the user base grows this could become a really handy tool for real-world social media marketing.