Getting Fit with Foursquare

One of Foursquare's goals is to push for as much real-world action and interaction as possible. They have already achieved this by introducing the concept of 'checking in' to venues and seeing who else from your network is around that spot as well. The concern was, is that it? Is that all there is to Foursquare?A couple of days ago, we saw the release of 'ChatSq', which is a perfect add-on to Foursquare, allowing the you to chat to other users who have checked-in at the same location as you. It functions as a great icebreaker app, before you decide whether or not you'd actually like to meet that person.This morning, Foursquare announced that they'd partnered up with the fitness app 'RunKeeper', and created a new Foursquare badge where you actually have to do something in addition to simply 'checking in'. Here is what Foursquare had to say about the new feature:"We love it when people tweet about dragging themselves to the gym to earn the Gym Rat badge, or about trying a new restaurant hoping to unlock the Pizzaiolo badge. Encouraging real-world actions is a big part of the mission behind foursquare. We’re also aware that some of those behaviors don’t necessarily involve a check-in, which is why today we’re excited to introduce the first badge you unlock by doing something, not just checking in. Say hello to our first badge partner: a little company called RunKeeper".[via: Foursquare Blog]The new badge is activated when you volunteer yourself to run a marathon (not sure why you'd want to do that, unless you're an athlete), and the new 'Marathon Badge' will show up on your RunKeeper and Foursquare profiles.Foursquare also said they are working on more real-world experience badges in the coming months. This announcement by Foursquare has finally shown where their value lies, and this has made me - and hopefully others - excited about location services again.[Image Credit: Wayne University and Runkeeper]