Foursquare's Mayorships feature was once the crown jewel of the app's gamification strategy, driving user engagement and fostering friendly, real-life competition and connections. However, as the app evolved, Mayorships lost their luster and ultimately failed to maintain user interest.

We've spent a lot of time thinking about why this feature ultimately collapsed, and with the relaunch of our place leaderboards, we wanted to share some thoughts from our product explorations. We explored the reasons behind the decline of Foursquare Mayorships and how we reimagined a version that addresses these shortcomings.

The Fall of Foursquare Mayorships

Foursquare's Mayorships allowed users to compete for the coveted title of "Mayor" at nearly any place on the planet by checking in more days than other person in a rolling 30 day period. While this concept initially sparked excitement, two critical factors led to its downfall:

• Single-Winner System:
  Mayorships followed a "winner-takes-all" approach, making it increasingly difficult for new or less frequent users to compete against established Mayors. Because only one person could be the Mayor of a place, the perceived impossibility of winning discouraged many users from actively participating and giving up, leading to a decline in feature engagement.

  
  

• Loss of Stranger Competition:
  Foursquare's shift to Swarm to focus on personal connections limited Mayorship competitions to users' friends, reducing the thrill of the challenge. Competing against strangers added an element of excitement that was lost when the feature was confined to a user's social circle.

  
  

Reimagining Mayorships: A Multi-Tiered Approach and Time-Based Approach

To address these shortcomings and bring back the beloved concept of Foursquare Mayorships, we came up with a reimagined version that introduces multiple levels of achievement and a new time-based achievement:

• Three Levels of Mayorships:
  Instead of a single Mayor, we are introducing three tiers of achievements - Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Assistant to the Deputy Mayor. These titles are awarded based on the number of unique daily check-ins at a place within a 30-day rolling period. By offering multiple levels of recognition, we create more opportunities for users to compete and feel rewarded for their engagement, encouraging continuous participation and fostering a better sense of progression and accomplishment.

  
  

• Introducing the Sheriff:
  We will soon introduce a new time-based achievement called the Sheriff, awarded to the person who spends the most amount of time physically at a venue. This concept draws inspiration from Strava's Local Legends feature, which recognizes users who complete a segment the most times within a given period, rather than focusing solely on speed. The Sheriff title creates an alternative way for users to compete and feel recognized for their dedication to a particular venue, providing an attainable goal for users who may never be the fastest or most frequent visitor.

  
  

Benefits of the Reimagined Mayorships

The multi-tiered Mayorships and the Sheriff title offer several key benefits for user engagement:

• Increased Participation:
  By providing multiple levels of recognition and an alternative time-based achievement, the reimagined Mayorships encourage more users to actively participate and compete. The tiered system and the Sheriff title create more achievable goals, making users feel that their engagement is valued and rewarded.

  
  

• Sustained Engagement:
  The 30-day rolling period for Mayorships and the continuous nature of the Sheriff title incentivize users to remain consistently active. Users are motivated to regularly check in and spend time at venues to maintain their titles or climb the ranks, leading to sustained engagement over time.

  
  

• Higher Real-World Interaction Potential:
  The reimagined Mayorships foster a sense of community and friendly competition among users. The multi-tiered system creates opportunities for users to connect and bond over their shared goals and achievements, encouraging social interaction and collaboration within the app.

  
  

Conclusion

Foursquare's original Mayorships feature was a pioneering example of gamification in consumer social apps, but its limitations ultimately led to its decline. By reimagining Mayorships with a multi-tiered approach and introducing the time-based Sheriff title, we can revitalize user engagement and create a more inclusive and rewarding experience. The proposed changes address the shortcomings of the original system, offering attainable goals and sustained motivation for users to actively participate. As we move forward in product design, it is crucial to learn from the successes and failures of past features and adapt them to meet the evolving needs and expectations of our users. The reimagined Mayorships serve as an example of how we can innovate and breathe new life into classic gamification elements to drive user engagement in Superlocal.