Foursquare launches a new location-based social app called Swarm

Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley never wanted his app to be just a “check-in button.” In order to be more than a novelty, Crowley realized Foursquare couldn’t just be about saying “I am here.” And after a rocky couple of years, the company needed to create some momentum, to make their app about social interactions, planning, and discovery—not “I am here” but “let’s go there.” The solution to Foursquare’s solipsistic woes seems to be Swarm, a new location-based social app that launched today. 

Foursquare is planning to launch its new Swarm app on Thursday (tomorrow). Yet the company is having a bit of trouble keeping its pants on, so to speak, and has been revealing features all of Wednesday (today), including planning, neighborhood sharing, and check-in search. When Foursquare first revealed Swarm at the start of the month, it said the new app would launch in the “coming weeks.” On Friday, that timeframe changed to “next week,” and now it has changed once again to tomorrow. Now for the new features. First up, there is plans, which are visible to all your friends in your city. Unlike most event systems, Swarm doesn’t offer you an invite list, and the company says you can leave your suggestion “as open-ended as you want.”