Reasons why Foursquare is the hottest Social Network on the web

Foursquare, the hottest Social Network on the web turned one yesterday. Hard to believe that its been around for just 365 days and still boasts of half a million users, 1.4 million venues, 15.5 million check-ins and is growing exponentially by the day if not by the hour! (see this excellent Hitwise Intelligence report for stats on Foursquare)

There are three important reasons for the phenomenal growth and popularity of Foursquare as compared to rivals such as Gowalla or Yelp.

• Technology: Although just one year old, Foursquare has stayed on top of technological aspects and made sure that its app is user friendly and efficient in leveraging location based info from mobile devices. Its latest release, Ver. 1.7 features many enhancements such a new design, faster check-ins besides an easy way to view check-in history.

• Ease of Use: Foursquare is very intuitive, easy to use and the latest release is a big step in this direction. (see this CNN video on how easy it is to use Foursquare)

• Creative Design and Promotion Strategy: Foursquare has been very creative in its design – badges for example and the way you earn them. Also important is how Foursquare (and participating establishments) have promoted the service. For example, Starbucks recently teamed up with Foursquare to offer customer rewards (for more, see this link). And when other companies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing to reach target audience, Foursquare has relied on buzz generated by creative promotion strategy. At the  South by South West (SXSW), 2010 taking place in Austin, Texas, Foursquare had people lined up to play this game of four square with one of its founders, Dennis Crowley, outside SXSW venue, with people walking by and talking about it. This is great buzz for Foursquare, with total investment of around $5.99 for a box of sidewalk chalk, that other companies paid tens of thousands of dollars to generate inside the venue! Isn’t that cool? (watch the following video)

To summarize, Foursquare is the hottest Social Network on the web because it is technically efficient, easy to use and creatively brilliant in design and promotion.

What do you think are the reasons for Foursquare’s success?