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Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

From the article:

> In attempt to placate frustrated users, Foursquare launched "Swarm," a separate check-in app with minimal features, removing most of what made the original Foursquare app great. "

This sentence is provably incorrect. FourSquare launched Swarm before their pivot, there were no 'frustrated users' at that time because their main app still did checkins. The article makes it sound like FourSquare were reacting to pissed of customers. They weren't - they foresee people who liked checkins and always accommodated them.

Not a frequent 4sq user but for me the app is more relevant now - it pops up useful nearby stuff that I might like as I wander around London, so far its suggestions are pretty good.

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I find that distinction somewhat trivial, I would wager most users shared in my experience, and that was one day Foursquare just stopped doing what they wanted it to do. Regardless of whatever timeline Foursquare followed, there was still one day when it just stopped being what it had been up to that point.

I was about to come say this. That sentence is provably false - Foursquare took great pains to launch Swarm first and launched the other app months later. They also did extensive communication at each step of the way.

> FourSquare launched Swarm before their pivot

Not really, it was part of their pivot. I think that was pretty clear at the time.

Yes, really. Events, in order:

1. Swarm released

2. New 4sq released

The article talks about 2 then 1, implying incorrectly that new 4sq was released, people got pissed off, then swarm was released.

I don't think anybody is arguing that it wasn't part of the pivot. I specifically am calling them out for implying 4sq was reacting to users who were pissed off with their new app, when their new app wasn't yet released.

Reference: http://mashable.com/2014/05/01/foursquare-swarm/

I think you are confusing the initial statement. Foursquare perceived users as "frustrated" before Swarm because of the conflation of reviews and check-ins with in a single app. The pivot was to create a new app and separate the concerns.

I think you're looking on their writing favourably.

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