Foursquare has made a change to their service that blurs the lines between your Foursquare connections and your Facebook or Twitter connections. This update was announced in a Foursquare blog post over the weekend.
Previously, if you checked into a location on Foursquare, only people whom you had connected with on Foursquare would be able to Like your update. Even if you shared your checkin on Facebook or Twitter, if a Facebook friend hadn’t connected with you on Foursquare, they would only be able to view and Like your Facebook activity.
Now, your Facebook and Twitter friends will be able to view and Like your activity on Foursquare.
This change may encourage Foursquare users to share more of their updates and checkins on Facebook and Twitter, which is a benefit for the small businesses into which these users are checking in. Facebook and Twitter users will still need to click through to Foursquare – simply Liking an update on Facebook has no effect on the Foursquare checkin.
An additional benefit to businesses is that by encouraging users to click through to Foursquare, the Facebook or Twitter friend will see more details about the business being checked into.
This update should remind and encourage every business owner with a physical location to create and optimize their Foursquare profile. Your profile should include detailed information about your business, links to your website and other social networks and great pictures!