InCrowd is a useful social media tool that hopes to make use of Facebook’s new Places functionality, but it faces an uphill climb. Foursquare is the reigning king of the location-based app hill and users of that platform don’t have a lot of reason to make a change. On its own merits, though, InCrowd is a different enough take that it will likely find a substantial audience. Its clever use of rewarding players who constantly check in and penalizing people who don’t (you lose popularity points if you don’t check in at least once per day) makes it a compelling game. Also, users can have fun customizing their avatars. Figuring out how to post your location is incredibly easy and user reviews and comments about those venues can act as a good filter. For example, if you’re unsure about a restaurant, you can quickly access the thoughts and experiences of people who have been there — both friends and strangers (though there are more established ways to do that, as well).

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