Yext, the leading source on local business information, lately released a report on the problems encountered when scanning the businesses records and data. Actually, most of Foursquare information relies on the users, meaning it has to be both accurate and relevant. Thanks to it Super Users, Foursquare’s ranking is good, but some issues were emphasized:
- 50% of the adresses provided have a wrong or no phone number. Yelp, the Yellow Pages or Yahoo present way better results, respectively 7%, 11% and 15% of errors). Foursquare relies on the customer’s accuracy and in this case, they just don’t know the number
- 35% of the names are incorrect. the amount sounds significant but Foursquare is in the average
but nevertheless there are very positive aspects and this the issues have to be moderated:
- Foursquare covers nearly everything, from a park to sightseeing, meaning places with no adresses or precise locations
- only 5% of the adresses appears to be wrong. This accuracy is provided thanks to the customers who “create” the adresses themselves
- thanks to the addresses accuracy, Foursquare notoriety, credibility and efficiency is increased. It also generate more revenues for businesses.
- Yext is in some way a Foursquare’s competitor since they have been providing locations database.
