Case Study: Foursquare boosts Super User engagement and grows community 15% with Higher Logic Vanilla

How Foursquare Drives Success With Their Superuser Program

Foursquare, the location-intelligence company behind the Foursquare City Guide and Places API, faced low community engagement and no formal Super User program while relying on Google Groups. To create a branded, integrated community that would recognize power users and improve database maintenance, Foursquare chose Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla Forums) for its out-of-the-box tools and ability to integrate with Foursquare’s credential system and Zendesk ticketing.

Higher Logic Vanilla implemented a branded Vanilla Forums community with granular permissions and gamification (expanding ranks from 3 to 10 levels) and seamless credential/Zendesk integration. The result: a ~15% increase in Super Users to over 45,000, stronger international engagement, clearer visibility into community issues, and a direct impact on product development and customer experience through Super User-driven edits and beta testing.

Foursquare

Victoria Ugarte

Product Manager