Foursquare debuts 'notification tray' on Android

Also available on the Web at foursquare.com, new feature is like a location-based news feed

Foursquare launched a new feature on Tuesday evening intended to take the location conversation “beyond the check-in.”

From the official blog:

At foursquare, we often talk of going ‘beyond the check-in.’ There are so many interesting things that are happening out in the world that you want to keep up on, like when you and a buddy both have the same place on your To-Do Lists (serendipity!), or when a friend comments on your check-in. Today, we’re rolling out an easy way to keep track of all those things: our new notification tray.

Available immediately for Android users, the notification tray has been a long time coming, as foursquare has continually added more complicating features over the past couple years. Organizing all the little news bits a foursquare might like to hear about, the tray is a little feed built specifically for location announcements. When a friend comments on your check-in, if a friend follows one of your Tips, if one of your Facebook friends joins foursquare, if you’re ousted as Mayor--these are just a few examples of the many notifications that could pop up in the newly launched tray.

Thankfully, foursquare has granted users some control over the added noise caused by these notifications, if they'd like to mute some stories.

Though the only mobile platform currently supporting the new notification tray is Android, other users can see the feature right away at foursquare.com. As for launch of the feature on iPhone and BlackBerry, foursquare says to “stay tuned.”

A string of fairly major updates have come from the foursquare camp recently, the most significant of which was its closing of a $50 million funding round two weeks ago. Andreessen Horowitz led the round with help from Spark Capital and prior investors, who may have valued the startup at around $600 million.

Earlier that week, foursquare made a big stride in the area of location-based e-commerce through its nationwide deals partnership with American Express. And just after that, the company revealed that it had registered its ten millionth member. Finally, last week saw the launch of a completely revamped foursquare app for Windows Phone 7.

Location is still a hot space, so it’s prudent of foursquare to never slow down development, and it certainly hasn't slowed a tad.