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Dennis Crowley, head of location-based social networking site Foursquare, says the app is no stalkers’ paradise

Can you explain for non-users?

It’s about making cities easier to use. It lets you “check in” to places from your cellphone. You can then share your experiences by leaving tips for your friends. There are also game mechanics. Users are rewarded with badges, and if you check in the most somewhere, you become the “mayor” of that place.

Why would I want to be the “mayor” of my local pub?

I wrote the rules and code that enables people to become mayor of places over a year ago, but I’m still a sucker for it. If someone ousts me, I take personal offence. I want to defend my territory. I don’t fully understand the psychology, but there’s something primal and territorial about it.

What new developments are you working on?

If someone checks in three times a day for a month, you can learn a lot about them. We are starting to get smarter about how we use that data, and will soon provide personal recommendations. We could build something that would enable your cellphone to buzz when you are near a place your buddy says does the best sandwiches in town, or recommend five places that will make your next trip to Chicago more interesting.

Is there a danger that Foursquare kills the joy of discovery through serendipity?

Whenever I go to a new restaurant I look at the Foursquare tips on the place and I see if one of my friends has recommended it. My decision isn’t based purely on that but it helps guide me. During the early development of Foursquare we thought of ourselves as working on something that could facilitate serendipity. We provide tips and pointers that nudge you in the direction of discovering things that we think you would like anyway.

Does the launch of Facebook Places mean it’s game over for Foursquare?

We knew Facebook was going to do check-ins before we started Foursquare. Facebook is good at helping people share content online, but sharing location is different. I’m constantly in situations where I don’t want to share with all of my friends; I often just want to share with small groups, maybe only people in my city. That’s what we are good at. Just as Facebook excels at helping people connect online, we are getting really good at helping people discover things offline.

Also, it’s what happens after people check in that’s interesting. We decided to experiment with game mechanics: badges, mayorships and tips. None of these things individually is the secret sauce, it’s the combination of all of those things.

What if burglars and stalkers use Foursquare?

Using Foursquare is no different to going on Twitter to tell people you are going to the movies. We share all sorts of stuff online and I think some of these fears get blown out of all proportion. But we are aware that location data is really sensitive and we go out of our way to make sure that people are only sharing it with the people they want to share it with.