Foursquare: No Search Data Partnerships Planned

A Foursquare spokesperson has told ClickZ News that it is not currently working on data partnerships with either Google, Yahoo, or Bing, while refuting a report by The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

From an interview with Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, the Telegraph quoted the CEO as follows:

“We can anonymise data and use it to show venues which are trending at that moment. Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about. Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

The story also stated:

“Crowley did not give a timeframe as to when the search deals could be signed off, but said it was an exciting time and the company was talking to ‘a lot of different potential partners’ which were interested in Foursquare’s data.”

According to a spokesperson for the New York-based company, Crowley’s comments were taken out of context. The spokesperson said the CEO was speaking about hypothetical possibilities rather than addressing actual negotiations or serious discussions between Foursquare and the search engine companies.

Follow Christopher Heine on Twitter at @ChrisClickZ.