Social check-in service Foursquare will start displaying personalized coupons as a part of its application in July, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

When the start-up releases the next version of its mobile app, it will include functionality that displays promoted personalized local specials purchased by advertisers. For merchants, offering specials is free, but promoting them within the app will be a paid service. Users will be able to see all of the specials, but must check in to redeem them.

Last month, it was reported that Foursquare will launch an advertising platform in June that will allow merchants to promote their specials from within the application. This new version of the user software will apparently incorporate those promotions. The company says it has more than 750,000 businesses using its merchant platform.

Foursquare is working on collaborative filtering, so it will be able to recommend new venues to a user based on where they have been before, and where their friends have been. Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley tells the WSJ that results under the “Explore” tab will be customized to each individual, and will also take into account factors like the day of the week and the time of day the search is performed.

Foursquare claims more than 20 million users worldwide who, collectively, have performed more than 2 billion check-ins.

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Foursquare

About The Author: Pamela Parker is executive features editor of Marketing Land and a contributing editor for Search Engine Land. She’s a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998, including a stint as managing editor of ClickZ. She’s also worked to help monetize independent publishers’ sites at Federated Media Publishing. She blogs about media and marketing at The River and about cooking, gardening and parenthood at Free Range. See more articles by Pamela Parker

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