Foursquare is moving to make the list of “Places” one sees when one loads one’s mobile app of choice more relevant.
The company announced this morning that it has recently made changes to improve its algorithms for serving up this data, taking into account things like time of day, proximity, and popularity of the venue in determining which places to show you.
This should be a welcome change for users of Foursquare. As the service has taken off in popularity, it’s also seen an increase in venues that “you are very unlikely to check into” –- Foursquare’s words for the abundance of user-created venues popping up that are only relevant to a small number of people (if anyone, “Ostrow Castle” not withstanding).
Along those lines, the service has also been working to delete duplicate venues and crack down on cheaters. Ultimately, these moves are a response to the rapid growth of the service and user behavior, some of which Foursquare probably couldn’t anticipate back when it laid the groundwork for the app.