Near and foursquare get their 15 minutes of fame in Times Square
When foursquare held their last Hackathon for developers, the NASDAQ prize offered its winner a chance to show their app on NASDAQ’s seven-story electronic billboard in Times Square. Almost eight months later, winner Near is finally getting their shot at the bigtime.
Foursquare and Near have taken over the NASDAQ billboard by showing the photos and names of users who check in to Times Square, thanks to Near’s integration with foursquare’s venue push API.
Near’s app incorporates foursquare and other data sources to create a window display for merchants that runs on an iPad. It shows things like hours and credit cards accepted, along with information from foursquare like the users who’ve recently checked in and tips.
The NASDAQ billboard also serves as an advertisement for foursquare. It’s the first time I’ve seen them publicly use their SMS shortcode (FOURSQ — it’s the same one you can use to add friends and follow brands), encouraging users to text “HI” to get a download link for the app and see their name in lights.
Foursquare and Near also rang the closing bell at NASDAQ today — just three days after Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell and launched Facebook’s IPO. With no revenue to speak of, foursquare isn’t anywhere near ready for an IPO of their own, but it’s a sign that they are beginning to be recognized by the business community.
Despite the delay, it’s a big opportunity for both foursquare and Near, showing off some of the interesting capabilities of the real-time foursquare API and giving foursquare an audience on the world business stage.
Below: a video from Near describing their app. What do you think of it?
/Photo above by foursquare’s Zack Sheppard on Instagram
