In the previous version of Foursquare users would earn a badge and then move onto other check-in events to earn other types of rewards, leaving behind their “Swarm” and other badges, however the company is now offering a “Level Up” system which adds increasing levels each time an event is earned.

The new system current affects 24 category badges including “JetSetter,” “Great Outdoors,” and “Wino” among others

According to Foursquare Head of Product Alex Rainert:

“It’s rewarding exploration and awarding expertise,” and “It’s a platform to showcase tastemakers and get their content exposed.”

According to the Foursquare blog:

The rules are the same for all your areas of expertise:

• You hit Level 1 for checking in five times to a place in a category, or three unique places.
• Level 2 is for five unique places.
• And from there, every level up is five more unique places, so you get rewarded for exploration!

Users can reach as high as 10 levels which equates to 48 checkins for each category.

Using this new information Foursquare will be able to identify “experts” in any given field and perhaps later on highlight their tips and other information for users while encouraging experts to engage more as they become respected members of the Foursquare community.

Foursquare also hopes that more users will want to “level up” and will therefore explore their communities more, thereby using the Foursquare product on a more regular basis.

Give Foursquare “level up” badges a try today and let us know what you think about the new system.

[via Mashable]