I still remember the days when I totally ignored Foursquare. After all, I didn’t (and don’t) want people to know where I am all the time. But there’s something about this platform that one just can’t ignore. With me, it was basically wanting to be the mayor of certain locations, lording it over my grand total of 3 friends. There is still that feeling of not wanting people to always know where I am, but I have to admit that I have fallen for Foursquare hook, line, and sinker.
However hard I have fallen for Foursquare, I am merely a drop in the bucket. With the platform hitting 10 million users (I am user 6 million something according to an e-mail I received this morning), Foursquare released an infographic that will satisfy trivia lovers (whether or not they’re on Foursquare).
From 0 to 10 million in 2 years. Now that is impressive. (Unlike the 6 mayorships you cling on to so dearly.) This is supposed to be a cool animation, so please click on the image to see it in action.
Kidding aside, that’s one pretty neat animation of how the user base of Foursquare has grown since it was launched. If you look at the numbers in the next section of the infographic, you’ll see that there were two people who started things in March 2009 (@dens and @naveen). Less than half a year later, they get 100,000 people on board! The growth in user base is, literally, exponential.
But do you really care about how many people use Foursquare? Maybe. Maybe not. What I found more fun are the bits and pieces info such as:
- U.S. users have visited 169 countries. So who says Americans are not well-traveled? Then again, these are Foursquare users only!
- There have been 358 million checkins outside of the United States. That’s proof that there is a world outside of America!
- There are 1,105 beer halls in Germany. Just 1,105??? In Japan, though, there are 6,230 sake bars.
- Churches are still the most popular venues for weddings. The park and the city hall trail far behind.
- Every day, 78,387 mayors are ousted on Foursquare. I guess the next time it happens to me, I should just get a pair and check in more.
- Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City (real life) is also the mayor of the same location (well, City Hall) on Foursquare. You go, Mayor Bloomberg!
The next time someone tells you to get a life, point them to Foursquare. Proof that you do have a life. 😉