Foursquare, a SXSW darling, brought the most fun to SXSW 2017

SXSW is 10 days of fun. Many of colleagues( I see you Brett Williams) pestered me( on Slack) for having a “great time with all the work down there.”

But, hey, it’s actually study. Attending panel after panel, speaking on your own panels, BBQ after BBQ, happy hour after happy hour isn’t easy no matter how fun it appears from everyone’s Snapchat( or Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook) Stories.

When I came back, and even during the whole ordeal, I detected my favorite proportion to be the 45 minutes that I invested away from all the hullabaloo. It was the cycling class I participated with Foursquare and CYC on Monday, the midway point in my SXSW journey.

The invitation wasn’t widened lightly. Mine arrived in my inbox after I expressed my sadness( on Twitter) over Spotify not hurling their own cycling event, as they did in the year prior with SoulCycle. In 2016, I legit “Turned Up On A Tuesday” with ILoveMakonnen.

This year, Spotify didn’t have their official House. But, Foursquare, the app that gained notoriety in SXSW 2009, was there to provide me with a shatter from all the action and it was there that I was reminded the beauty of conferences like SXSW.

LOLO likewise performed during the course of its first ride and then joined on her own bike.

“I came to South By for the first time last year. I recollect “were in” bouncing from party to party, eating, booze, but this is one thing that we missed the possibility of being take a step back from the hectic-ness of South By and take a break, ” Justin Breton, Foursquare’s head of marketing partnerships, tells me in the hallway of the Westin.

This was the second of two cycling classes Foursquare held. The first was inside a donut shop. This time, we were on the recently remodeled rooftop of the Westin.

For me, similar to Breton, it an flee and a reminder that physical fitness is important.

For Foursquare, the events were a pretty big deal for its business.

“This is the first year “thats been” doing something[ on our own .] While its small-scale scale, it allows us to be a part of the South By conversation. We wanted to keep it intimate, ” Breton said.

Foursquare wasn’t doing anything flashy, however. “The conversation has evolved so much. It launched here at South By. It was a consumer app. It was a darling of South By. Now, we’re a very established corporation with a suite of business products, ” Breton told. “I’m proud to be a part of a company thats forward reckoning , not only focusing on one region of the business.”

Yes, Foursquare was a South By darling just like Twitter, Highlight and Meerkat. But we haven’t had one of those since 2015 with Meerkat. Two SXSW without a darling what happened? Is the tech world just no longer creative enough?

“I dont know. I was here last year, and “its been” similar situations. We didnt feel like we walked away with a new product, ” Breton told. “I assured a lot of VR last year and assured a lot this year … Thats evolved.”

Breton also said he has realized the growth of tech corporations espousing place( as in, what Foursquare has to offer businesses ). Some of the tech monsters, including Twitter and Snapchat, employ that data to power their own features.

“I think place data is truly becoming more important, ” Breton told. “We just launched our SDK. We’re permitting various brands and apps to use the magic. For a brand to be able to understand that someone goes to the movie theater four times a month, I think that’s something that’s becoming more a part of the conversation.”

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