The best new iPhone app has to be FourSquare.   For anyone who has not heard of this application for the iPhone, you will.  Shortly.  Think Twitter about a year ago.  It emerged onto the SXSW scene and hit it like that “Pants On the Ground” song did to American Idol this year.

 FourSquare is an application that utilizes GeoTracking.  Your mobile device has the ability to track your whereabouts – if you let it.  Foursquare leverages this technology and enables you to “Check-In” to a location if you are near it. 

 Why “Check In?”  Well, the FourSquare app has the ability to “alert” all your friends that you just walked in to a restaurant, bar, are at the Cowboy game or even on a plane.  Plus, the brilliant minds that built this app have made it a sort of competition and award you for certain check-ins with “badges”.  This is not something you wear on your sleeve like in Boy Scouts, but this is a virtual badge.  If you are the person that “Checks In” the most at a specific location, you also have the ability to become “The Mayor” of that venue and your picture and name are shown every time someone checks in there.

 O.K., so where does the party chasing come in???  Well, one cool thing that FourSquare does is it shows you “Trend data.”  This is nothing more than the number of check-ins at a specific location.  Why is this important?  If you are at a conference and want to be seen at the biggest and coolest parties, you just need to watch the number of check-ins or trend data.  There are 300 people that are checked-in over at Stubbs?  Let’s go!!!    Ever at a lame party?  Look at the trend data and chase the party. 

What do you get as a Party Chaser?  Well, there’s a badge for that – the Swarm.