One of the most intriguing geolocation services made a major announcement today. Steve Boom, who spent 10 years as Yahoo’s Senior Vice President, was announced as Loopt’s new president.

Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of Loopt, had some intriguing things to say about their newly-named president:

He’s grown mobile companies from upstarts to established brands, helping them reach new levels of user engagement and monetization. I fully expect him to do the same for Loopt.

Among the mobile startups that Boom has been put in charge of, mig33 is one of his most successful. According to the Loopt blog, Boom will continue to serve as the chairman of the company, based in Singapore.

Back in July, TechCrunch reported that Loopt had passed the four million user mark, so Loopt is no pushover when it comes to location-based services. While Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places continue to grow, Loopt clearly understands its’ place in a continuously growing and competitive field.

Do you believe that the addition of Steve Boom will help Loopt reach new heights with their location-based service?

(Picture Credit: Loopt Blog)

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TIME Magazine releases a list of the 50 best websites on an annual basis, which highlights the best websites in a variety of categories over the span of a year. There were five social media websites honored—most people would recognize the popular professional networking website LinkedIn as well as the micro-blogging service Tumblr.

However, there was a surprising snub in the geolocation list: Foursquare was left off, and Gowalla was honored instead.

Now don’t get me wrong: there are some people out there that would say that Gowalla deserved the honor. The issue at hand, according to Sarah Perez from ReadWriteWeb, was that Gowalla delayed the release of their Application Programming Interface (API), while Foursquare’s API has been available for months. According to Perez, waiting around could eventually be the downfall for Gowalla.

Avid geolocation platform users are likely a member of both Foursquare and Gowalla, but Gowalla has a smaller user base than Foursquare currently does. In your opinion, does Gowalla merit a “victory” over Foursquare in TIME’s 50 Best Websites of 2010? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Foursquare has unveiled a beautiful new advertisement in New York City’s Times Square that will reach thousands of people a day.

The ad is a huge, multi-level corner advertisement that will command the attention and the curiosity of passers-by—and it must be a dream for the geolocation platform to have such a huge presence.

According to TechCrunch, the ad space is owned by American Eagle, so it is likely that American Eagle contributed help to Foursquare in terms of affording the costs involved. That being said, it is an impressive presence for the most popular geolocation platform out there today.

The ad is placed above the American Eagle store location. Perhaps even more impressive is that the ad is the “largest digital billboard in Times Square”.

What are your thoughts on the Foursquare ad? What impact will the ad have on the service as a whole?

Geolocation Today continues a rundown of all of the Foursquare badges by covering the “Local” Badge.

How To Unlock It: Are you a big fan of local businesses? Well, in this case, you only have to be a fan of one venue. After checking into a venue three times in a week, you will receive the local badge, which rewards loyalty to a given venue.

Difficulty: Easy. You should have a favorite local hangout or venue that you visit often. Through three visits in a week (not all that hard to accomplish), you can pick up a badge that should be a part of everyone’s badge set.

Geolocation Today continues their look at how to unlock all of the badges on the platform. Today, we have a look at how to acquire the “Superstar” badge.

How To Unlock It: Users who have checked in to 50 different venues will receive this badge. Only the most dedicated Foursquare users will be able to unlock this one. Like the Adventurer badge, it takes vigilant checkins over an extended period of time to unlock the badge.

Difficulty: Moderate. While 50 checkins is by no means anything that can be accomplished in a day or even a week, dedicated Foursquare users are likely to have no issues picking this badge up over an extended period of time.

Unlock the Superstar badge, and many people will be able to see that you check in to Foursquare early and often without fail. If you want to friend request active users, look out for this badge in the profile to prove their constant checkin activity.

If you’re anything like me, I cannot turn down a good burrito for breakfast, lunch or dinner. While Chipotle may be the best known chains to get delicious burritos, you may also be familiar with a competitor, Qdoba.

The best part about Qdoba—at least for Foursquare users—is that you can get a free burrito if you are creative and good with words.

In order to qualify for a potential free burrito, you have to check in to any participating Qdoba location. Then, use the Foursquare “Shout” function to “shout about how you beat burrito boredom”. The best and most creative answers from users will result in a free burrito for each shout.

So what are you waiting for? If you want to get in on the competition, check out Qdoba’s store locator and visit your closest store location to check in and shout.

Do you plan on giving the free burrito shout a try? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Ever wonder if there was an alternative to Foursquare for a not-so-active day? Perhaps the weather is nasty outside, you’re sick or you just don’t feel like going out. Users of geolocation websites may be surprised to hear that there are several alternatives for that quiet day.

CNN named three applications that cater to the not-so-active crowd. Here is a brief rundown of the three.

Getglue

Getglue is an entertainment social network that allows users to share their personal likes in categories such as music, books and movies. Yes, even wine is covered! A user can see what his/her friends like and also get recommendations from the platform on new stuff to check out.

Miso

Only know Miso as the popular Japanese soup? It also happens to be the name of one of the fastest emerging social networking sites. Miso allows you to “check in” to your favorite shows when you watch them. A bit of competition is involved with friends as you earn points and badges the more you use the platform. Finally, you can share your tv show schedule with others through Facebook and Twitter.

Philo

Think Philo sounds awfully similar to Miso? Well, it’s close, at least in terms of what the platform offers. Like Miso, as you share what you watch on TV, you unlock points and awards for your tune-ins. Think of Philo as another alternative to Miso if you are a real TV junkie.

Have you ever used any of these services? What are your thoughts on the platforms?

Geolocation Today continues their reports on how to unlock all of the Foursquare badges on the platform.

The “Explorer” badge should be a straightforward badge pickup for users who have remained active on Foursquare.

How To Unlock It: 25 different location checkins will earn the user this badge.

Difficulty: Easy. Even Foursquare users in the smallest U.S. cities should have no problem checking into 25 different venues if they are vigilant with their checkins.

Conclusion: It’s highly likely that this will be the third badge that users pick up. Explorers are emerging Foursquare users and are more than worth following and/or friend requesting.

Geolocation Today has covered geolocation news up until this point, but we will also cover important social media warnings to keep you safe on your social networking sites.

There is currently a website that claims to notify you how many “fake” Twitter followers you have.

Here is the website (DO NOT AUTHORIZE IT).

After authorization, the website spits out a seemingly random number of “fake” followers and auto-tweets it to your Twitter account. It is very similar to the Twifficiency trick played earlier in the week.

While it is unknown if this app is malicious, it is recommended that you revoke access in case it is. In the event you’ve authorized the app, there are a few things you should do.

1. Delete the auto-tweet sent from your account.

This should be the first thing you do, as it will avoid the message staying out in the public feed for too long (where people can click through and do it for themselves).

2. Revoke access for the application through your “Connections” in the Settings navigation bar.

This will ensure that Twifakes cannot send any additional tweets from your account without your permission.

3. If you haven’t already, send a tweet to @spam on Twitter so this website can stop this trick.

Have you accidentally authorized #Twifakes to check your “fake” follower count? Let me know your experience in the comments. Also, please retweet the post so the message can get out regarding this website.

Just a few days ago, Geolocation Today covered the University of Michigan athletics program and their Foursquare use. Now, it looks like the Atlantic Coast Conference has also gotten active on the platform.

SB Nation released a report tonight that showed the total number of ACC checkins to their football stadiums. The two Florida ACC teams, Florida State and Miami, took the top spots. The state of North Carolina also had an impressive showing, with NC State and UNC both in the top five.

Impressively, the ACC recorded more total Foursquare checkins than the SEC, and that excludes Wake Forest’s football stadium.

Expect to see more reports on Foursquare use in college football stadiums this year. Geolocation websites and platforms tend to be popular amongst a younger demographic, and college students are no exception.

How do you think geolocation websites will affect college athletics?