A long time ago before the internet was integrated
into the development cycle of an application, Software was distributed through
physical copies which would have to be manually installed into your PC. There
was no continuous updating system, the next important update or additional
features would be added into the next iteration of the software and re-released
as an entirely new product. With minimal to no feedback from users, every new
version of the software was slow and did not address the main issues that had
plagued the software since the begging. Luckily this trend was broken and new
software's soon arrived which utilized the internet to bring patches or updates
quickly and efficiently. This concept is better known these days as the
Perpetual Beta concept. Adopting this pattern of Web 2.0 brings many benefits
to an application such as:
§ Faster time to market by allowing your software to
enter its early beta cycles with real world users testing your software
§ Reducing risk by receiving feedback by your users
§ Building a closer relationship with your clients.
§ Collective real time data from your users to help
make quantifiable decisions
§ Increase responsiveness
A great example of how to correctly
apply this pattern is the application known as FourSquare. Foursquare is a local search
and discovery service mobile app which provides a personalized local
search experience for its users. By taking into account the places a user goes,
the things they have told the app that they like, and the other users whose
advice they trust, Foursquare aims to provide highly personalized
recommendations of the best places to go around a user's current location.
Foursquare has gone through many iterations/updates by working with its users
and developers. Most of the new features introduced were taken from the
information given from the users, such as how they interact with the app, what
feedback and features they want.
With that being said the following
are the reasons why I believe Foursquare is a great example of Perpetual beta
integration and how its helped them perform so well. From launch, Foursquare
has gone through a variety of minor updates but 6 major updates. At the time of
this Blog Foursquare is on version 8.0.
Each update brings multiple new features such as "recently opened" or
allowing users to check into a location with Facebook users who do not have the
app or the explore feature getting an update so you can refine your search
using categories "free-WiFi", "Chinese food" etc. Beside
the updates of new features, Foursquare have redesigned its website and user
interface incrementally since June of 2012 after
receiving feedback from its mobile platforms such as iOS and
Android.
Apart from providing API to their
developers, Foursquare encourages users to share their location with their
friends by turning the activity into a game of some sorts with perks and
rewards.Users are also able to create new location on the map and create list
of places to visit. Foursquare is able to monitor the usage and creation of new
information while creating new features around it. Every feature introduced
into the app after release is thoroughly tested by the community.
Foursquare reserves many features for users who actually create an account, and
while technically no split tests are conducted, Foursquare is able to test
different features for its different devices through users and exclusive
testers thus allowing Foursquare to experiment.
By knowing how users add new
locations on the map, share data with friends and “check-in” into different
locations, Foursquare is able to create features such as “Explore” and
recommendations. Knowing what users like and dislike allow Foursquare to create
and refine its algorithm that suggest places that the user should visit. With
each new version of the application Foursquare brings new features with refine
and improve upon existing features. While these updates are not withing
scheduled intervals, they use that time to heir advantage by updating what they
and the users believe needs to be fixed and added so that no time is wasted
implementing features that are useless.
While users add new location and
comment on those locations, Foursquare have to take all the data generated
to input into its algorithm which help suggest places to other users. Managing
of data generated by multiple users and monitoring newly added data plays and
important role in making sure the services retains the intended core purpose
and quality.
So overall Foursquare uses the data
that users generate and feedback given by users to create new features which
benefit the community while providing reliable software as a service which
moves forward with its community instead of behind it. I hope you see now how
great of an example Foursquare is in terms of integrating the pattern Perpetual
beta.
Question:
Is there an application you know off
which tries to do the same task as Foursquare? What is their method for
updating and bringing in new features to their community?
References:
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