Foursquare In A New (The) Situation

Foursquare, as it has done so frequently in recent history, has signed a deal. Both MTV and VH1 have made deals with Foursquare as it introduces "Celebrity Mode," a mode that will give users the ability to follow celebrities without being mutual friends.  This new mode will allow users to follow celebrities from MTV and VH1 shows like The Hills, The City, and  The T.O. Show, without needing approval from the celebrity.

Foursquare's built in public/private update options will prevent swarms of people every time a celebrity checks into your local burger joint.  Celebrities will be able to send out every update to all of their friends and updates about their presence at an event to all follower.  This could potentially help MTV and VH1 keep their events packed.

The first account to see the new celebrity mode is Jersey Shore's DJ Pauly D.  Foursquare users can now follow Pauly D to see all his public updates without becoming friends with him.  To date, Pauly D has been using his public updates to promote a number of locations in New York City.  Though other celebrities may use the service differently, there are similar concepts that will be in play as with the Bravo deal: users will earn badges related to their favorite shows and celebrities.

As Foursquare continues to reveal its bigger plan to the public through these deals, its ever expanding userbase has grown by approximately 20% in the past 10 days due to the SXSW conference.