I recall seeing a data presentation on 4square a few months ago, and the numbers suggested that check-ins were tapering. They definitely realized that all their corporate value was in the data.
Perhaps they are trying to avoid the split issues from Netflix? I think they needed to give the Foursquare name to the Yelp-killer so that people would know about it. The space is too crowded to start from scratch. And Yelp is ready to be killed.
Why? Is that your personal sentiment on their company, or are you suggesting their business isn't successful? Who's their biggest competitor? They killed Citysearch, and Sheckys, and all the other websites that used to dominate that space, but I can't think of another company that comes close to their brand awareness apart from Google, who probably won't dominate since it's not their primary function.
Yelp's ratings, reviews, recommendations, and tips aren't very good for food, bars, and things to do. I've always found Foursquare's to be much higher quality.
I think the parent was suggesting that Yelp is good enough. When you have a brand as recognizable as Yelp and viewed as "good enough" then it becomes nearly impossible for a competitor to beat them by simply being better.
You have to be different and I'm not sure what needs to be different about Yelp.
1 - The recommendations are not personalized. We are getting more and more accustomed to personalization. I love FreshDirect, but I don't trust their anonymous ratings either. Same with SeamlessWeb.
2 - The Yelp reviews are frequently gimmicked by advertisers.
Perhaps they are trying to avoid the split issues from Netflix? I think they needed to give the Foursquare name to the Yelp-killer so that people would know about it. The space is too crowded to start from scratch. And Yelp is ready to be killed.