Foursquare introduces Promoted Updates

Foursquare launched the pilot for a new advertising program the location-based social network is rolling out called Promoted Updates.

The new advertisements follows Foursquare’s introduction last week of another feature called Local Updates, which shows users updates from businesses they frequent. Promoted Updates will be similar but it will instead show users paid updates from business they are near.

Promoted Updates are a “great way to find out what’s happening at a local coffee shop, save money on your next clothing purchase, or just discover a store you’ve never been to before,” the company said, according to MacWorld.

With 20 million users, Foursquare is trying to make money from its app, which it redesigned last month.

The ads will show up in the app’s “Explore” tab, which shows users nearby places and friends.

To start, the new program will only include 23 partners, according to the Next Web. Among them are Best Buy and Gap.

Although the ads might bother some users, it seems Foursquare is making an effort to keep them from being too intrusive. Promoted Updates will appear only when users are near the business that is paying for the ads, and an ad’s relevancy to users will also factor into whether it will be shown.

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