In the two months I interned at foursquare several changes came out to the platform. One of the most exciting was the introduction of lists to both the website and eventually the iPhone and Android app. In the past three days Radar has come out of iPhone and now that is the most new and exciting addition to the platform. Radar is really cool, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs tonight when I go to the city for my friend’s birthday.

But today I want to tell you about a really positive experience I had 3 weeks ago using foursquare lists. I was going out on a Friday night with my boyfriend and my two housemates from college. None of us are native NYers but we all were commuting daily for school/work/internships. That day it was my responsibility to pick where we should hang out that night. I know NOTHING about cool places in the city and had no idea what to do.  But then I remembered, hey, I am friends with a bunch of foursquare employees that live in NYC and have obviously left plenty of tips at good venues to check out! I decided I would snoop around my friends tips at venues and create my own list of good places to check out that night with my friends.

Creating a list is pretty simple, I used my computer to create the list but I was easily able to add venues using my iPhone as well. I looked around for positive tips my foursquare friends had left at various venues around the city. If the bar seemed like a good time and was in walking distance, I added it to the list. So this was awesome, I now had a list of places I could check out with my friends that night.

Now I had an idea of where I wanted to go in the city, my only problem; I have the worst sense of direction on earth. And even though these places have nicely labled addresses I knew I would still struggle to find them. This is where my very favorite thing about lists comes in!

It conveniently places all the venues on a map for you! You can also click on the different pinpoints to see which venue is which. With this map and list of venues even I, the queen of getting lost, was able to direct my friends to different fun places around the city.

I was so proud of myself, I have always been the person that just follows people around while in the city, but finally I was able to lead my friends to cool and new places. This was so useful to me that day and I definitely plan on using lists again in the future. I could use lists again when i go to a new city, or create a list of local restaurants I’ve been meaning to check out. The possibilities truly are endless. And now with the introduction of radar, you even get a push notification when you are near a venue you have added to a list.