Gather lets you broadcast where you are headed

Friends can make impromptu plans and meetup with the new app that works with Facebook, Foursquare

Social networking sites have made it easier for people to invite a bunch of people to a dinner party or weekend retreat but what about those smaller events that happen on the fly? Suppose you decide to spend the afternoon at a really great outdoor cafe or are headed to a museum and want some company -- those types of events don't usually warrant the creation of a Facebook event.

A newly launched mobile application, Gather, allows people to create micro-meetups that can quickly broadcast a location and event to Facebook and Twitter. 

This new tool helps you share your intended plans before you even check in via Facebook or Foursquare.  This app becomes a great way to join friends in the area for a great shared experience. 

And, unlike Forecast or Holler, Gather is a tool that builds on top of all the social networks that you and your friends are already on so there isn't, yet another place to check to see where all your 500+ fiends are at.

The app offers a “nearby” feed showing post within one or two miles of your location so that you can meet up with friends much faster and easier than trying to scroll through Facebook feeds.

While not up just yet, Gather is in the works to connect with the Foursquare check-ins, calendar integration, and expanded Android platform support. 

The free service does not yet have a business model that it is sharing publicly but it will be sharing those additions soon and could resemble the changes seen with Foursquare, where businesses can offer special deals and loyalty points to those sharing their check-ins publicly.

The new Foursquare design took out a page out from the Facebook book by really beefing up the profile portion and blowing up the profile photo and adding various contact information and social media profiles front-and-center. 

The new layout is using the growing desire for people to explore photos and people in the new version -- like Pinterest, if you will -- and also brings in more content from third-party sites that helps add more than just Foursquare-user generated content.

Users, even the most casual, noticed the redesign because of the blown-out profiles, images, and the relocation of the check-in button. While, before, the check-in button was the hub that everything else was positioned around, now it seems like the app wants you to use it like a personalized Yelp and then check-in if you wish.

The redesign was certainly needed and wanted, since the company's addition of the radar and explore functions were a big hit when they were added in the fall. Foursquare has raised more than $71 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2009, and was most recently valued at more than $600 million.

And businesses are finally seeing the value of encouraging Foursquare check-ins so that people get directed, social suggestions on where to go next, rather than relying on Yelp, which is not as personal and not usually vetted by friends with similar tastes.

Gather would further enrich this service but doesn't seem to hold a huge deal of value on its own. I am seeing this company and tool as a possible acquisition on the way of being snapped up by Facebook or Foursquare.