Nielsen: Foursquare third among social networking apps
A new report from Nielsen reveals that Foursquare is in third place in app usage among the major social networks with 10.3 million monthly users behind Facebook and Twitter (interestingly, the report makes no mention of Instagram).
That represents a 118% increase from last year’s usage numbers. The changes that appeared in version 5.0 of the app have also clearly had an effect on the amount of time users spend in the app. That number is up 154% year-over-year now that users are browsing their activity feeds and using the Explore function instead of just checking in.
The numbers still pale in comparison to those seen by Facebook (78.3 million) and Twitter (22.6 million), but they’re nothing to sneeze at. They stand in contrast to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal that said Foursquare’s growth was slowing. Foursquare’s Chief Revenue Officer Steven Rosenblatt disputed that report at the Ignition 2012 conference, saying that Foursquare has added more users this year than in the previous two years combined.
Nielsen’s report comes at a critical time for Foursquare, which is currently seeking a new round of funding in which some investors have balked at the company’s valuation. It could help swing some investors who were on the fence to Foursquare’s side.
