Foursquare has announced that it will be making changes as it prepares to release Swarm. One change that is causing a bit of controversy involves the way that Foursquare is assigning mayorships.
In the past, it was possible to use Foursquare to check in to your favorite coffee shop. The person that checked in the most frequently (in a 60 day timeframe) would be given the title of “mayor” of that particular coffee shop. Other people who also used Foursquare could compete in an effort to oust the current mayor (and claim the title for themselves).
Starting May 9, 2014, there will be no more ousting of mayors in the Foursquare app. Instead, the app will continue to show the current mayor “frozen in place”. Those who are currently a mayor of a particular location will be able to see those mayorships on his or her profile.
The change is being done to make way for Mayors 2.0. You no longer will be competing against all 50,000,000 people who use Foursquare for the mayorship of your favorite coffee shop. Instead, the competition will be limited to your group of friends. The person within that group of friends who has been to that coffee shop the most will get a crown sticker to show that he or she is mayor of it.
This means that there will no longer be one mayor of a particular location. There will be many mayors now (one for each circle of friends). Some people feel that this takes all the fun out of having a mayorship.