The location-based networking company Foursquare has just unveiled a new tool called “location layers,” testing the new program with the Independent Film Channel (IFC) and the Huffington Post. The new feature will allow Foursquare partners–from a publisher to a bookstore to a literary journal–to send real-world suggestions to subscribers’ mobile phones based on their current location.
Fast Company has more about the project: “If you follow IFC or HuffPo, you’ll be given notifications when you use Foursquare to check in to any location near one of their favorites. Follow IFC, and you could be told when you’re near a famous film location or a new theater. (The IFC layer is especially cool because it’s crowdsourced–this info comes both from IFC and from fellow IFC aficionados.) Follow HuffPo, and you could be told when you’re near a protest or some other news happening in real time.”
IFC’s “Always On Slightly Off Guide to America” on Foursquare already includes two bookstores: Connecticut’s Traveler Food and Books and Oregon’s Powell’s City of Books. Also check out our previous feature, How Publishers Can Use Foursquare.