I've always had high hopes for Foursquare, so hearing a prediction like PrivCo's is shocking.

Is PrivCo being excessively bearish, or is 4SQ in fact, doomed?

Are Foursquare's missed marks just symptoms of "pivoting" at such a late stage (from a check-in game to a Yelp competitor), or are they indicative of deeper trouble?

I was one of the early adopters of Foursquare, back when they didn't actually monitor if you were at the location or not so you could check in with your non-smart phone and still achieve points, etc.

But the main question I've always had is about their business model. To be completely honest, I eventually stopped using Foursquare because it wasn't improving my life at all. Some establishments have perks for being the Mayor, but with the rampant "cheating" and forcing someone to visit and location time after time in succession, it became more of a hindrance than a help.

I still don't see where their business model is entirely, but I don't feel they have much of a future, unless people enjoy checking in to places for the coming future.

I think this pivot was inevitable, but the way they've pivoted will likely lose a lot of their users.

My friends and I loved the gaming aspect of the app, competing for points and seeing how our scores stacked up. Rather than just emphasizing the Explore feature of the app, they've now made the leaderboard and point breakdowns much more difficult to access... the app's originally addictive nature, which was what made it so successful, is all but lost.

Unless foursquare brings back some of the gaming aspects into the forefront, I think its best bet is to start marketing itself as a Yelp competitor and hope for new users. Ultimately it might end up being successful but maybe at the cost of its early users' loyalty.