Foursquare gets personal with local search and new logo
Struggling to maintain relevancy in the competitive world of social media isn't easy. Companies come and go and fight to stay alive.
Foursquare, one of the social media companies that's less talked about these days, announced Wednesday that it was going through a major rebranding and refocus to appeal to users. Along with a streamlined new logo, the company is putting a big emphasis on personalized search and its new Swarm app.
"Everyone explores the world differently -- guided by their own unique tastes, their friends, and the people they trust. Local search has never been good at this," Foursquare wrote in a blog post. "We're about to change that. In a couple weeks, we're rolling out a brand new version of Foursquare that's all about you."
Foursquare is now working to have its app understand people's tastes and cater to their interests, it's what the company calls "personalized local search."
"Once you teach Foursquare a couple things about you -- add tastes, follow experts, or even just walk around for a few days -- the app will be 100 percent yours," Foursquare wrote.
Central to Foursquare's make over is a move of all check-ins to its new Swarm app. Swarm was unveiled in May and combines the ability to check in at random venues, while also discovering different areas. The company said users won't lose any check-ins or friends with this change over.
Foursquare's new logo is also a departure from the old check-in-only system. This logo drops the checkmark and is now a streamlined pink "F" that looks a bit like a map pin.
"We designed it to be a mix of map pin and superhero emblem," Foursquare wrote. "We've always thought of Foursquare as giving you superpowers to explore your city, and our new logo reflects that vision."
Swarm is currently available for download and Foursquare's personalized local search should be rolling out in a couple of weeks.
This article originally appeared on CNET.