Foursquare pivots to become "Nielsen of the real world"
When Foursquare's app launched in 2009, users competed to become the "mayor" of local coffee shops, stores and eateries by "checking in" at these locations more often than anyone else over a 60-day period.
More recently, Foursquare has slipped down the leader board as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have become the go-to destinations on digital. But while the company today boasts a relatively modest audience of 50 million users split across two apps – its eponymous service, which now focuses on local search, and Swarm, a tool premised...