Foursquare's Swarm Helps You Find Friends, Make Plans

Mobilizing friends to get off Reddit and head across town to go out isn't easy. Foursquare's new app, Swarm (free, iOS and Android), hopes to help plan makers spring their homegirls and homeboys into action with its location-based features that show you who's nearby and ready to meet up.

Swarm is very similar to Facebook Nearby Friends, a real-time friend tracker, except it integrates the best of Foursquare: fight for mayorship among followers, check into locations, and search your old check-ins. A brand-new feature is Plans, where you can blast out a message like "Who wants to see a movie tonight? or "Heading to the park in 20 minutes — who wants to join?" to everyone following you on Foursquare.

The Foursquare app is shedding its check-in feature and taking on Yelp by focusing on discovery tools. Scroll down to see what Swarm is all about, and let us know — will you let your friends track where you are?