Foursquare friend tagging expands to Facebook friends — whether they use Foursquare or not
Foursquare’s latest update to their iOS app contains a nice little surprise: you can now tag your Facebook friends, not just your Foursquare ones.
Foursquare announced in August that Foursquare tags would pass through to Facebook, with the big limitation being that you had to be friends on Foursquare first. With this update, that’s no longer an issue, so it’s easier to tag the people you’re hanging out with or want to mention in a check-in without worrying about which social networks they’re on.
This is a small change but a significant move for the service, because it increases the exposure of Foursquare within Facebook. Once tagged, friends will receive a notification, ensuring they’ll see your content from Foursquare. Who knows: they might even be tempted to sign up.
Tagging a Facebook friend is just like tagging a Foursquare one. Tap the friend icon in the bottom left of the shout box and choose (or search for them) from the list. Friends that aren’t on Foursquare will appear with a Facebook icon next to their names.
Clicking the tag after it’s posted will take you either to the Facebook mobile app or Facebook.com. If the check-in is pushed to Facebook, your friend will appear tagged just like any other Facebook post.
This feature should appear on Android devices in the near future.
UPDATE (8:57 pm): Based on the questions asked at some other sites, I just want to clarify that this feature does NOT allow you to check in your friends or for them to check you in. It’s merely a tag, just like the linked-name tags in a Facebook status update.
