Foursquare wants companies to pay for access to check-in database

Foursquare has plans to monetize the large amount of check-ins at businesses and stores it has amassed in recent years. Large companies have to pay for access to the data.

Jeffrey Glueck, chief operating officer at Foursquare, told The Wall Street Journal that he plans to monetize collected information about user check-ins. These are companies known as ‘heavy users’; According to Glueck, less than 1 percent of the companies are involved, but more details were not disclosed.

By selling information to companies, Foursquare probably hopes to create a new source of income. User check-ins are commercially interesting, so Foursquare expects companies to pay money for this. Currently, the service mainly earns its money from advertisements. There are said to be about 50 million users using Foursquare.

Google has already started asking for payment for heavy users of Maps. The internet giant was criticized for this, after which it significantly lowered the price. Foursquare started giving extensive insight into its check-in database two years ago.