Foursquare launched at South by Southwest in 2009 as a location-based social network.
Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai founded Foursquare in 2009 after working on Dodgeball, an earlier mobile social service. Foursquare encouraged people to check in at real-world places using a mobile phone, then discover venues and compete for badges or mayorships.
The service received early attention at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. Its launch helped popularize the idea that a phone could connect online social activity with physical locations.
Foursquare is often confused with Yelp because both services provide venue information and reviews. Their early identities differed: Foursquare centered on check-ins and game-like rewards, while Yelp focused primarily on user reviews. Foursquare later shifted toward location data and business technology, while retaining its consumer discovery products.