Foursquare is all about helping you make the most of where you are. When you’re out and about, we can help you decide where to go next, what to order, and let you know about all the interesting things happening around you. And, a huge part of that is helping you stay connected with all the places you love in your neighborhood.

Starting today, you’ll start seeing updates in your friends tab from the places where you’re a loyal customer. It’s an easy way to keep up with news from places you frequent, including things like new specials, pictures of the latest shipment of shoes, or a serendipitous food truck appearance. The best part is there’s no extra work for you to do: we already know you care about a place if you’ve checked in often or liked it, and will show you updates from it when you’re in the same city. If you change your mind and don’t want updates from a business any more, you can turn them off with one tap.

Also, when you look for places in Explore or when you check in, you’ll see these updates on the page – kind of like the chalkboard where a restaurant writes its daily specials. For example, when you’re on Northern Spy Food Co.’s page, you’ll see their recent update about their latest seasonal drink.

To see what these look like in action, check out some of the businesses that have started sharing updates. Some are national chains, like H&M, Togo’s Sandwiches, Outback Steakhouse, and Wolfgang Puck. Some are universities on foursquare, like University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of South Florida, Duke University, Texas A&M University, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Boston University. And some are local New York favorites, like Luke’s Lobster,  New York Public Library, NYC Parks Department, and Northern Spy Food Company. Are you a loyal customer? If you want to see these updates when you’re in the same city, like them.

If you manage a place on foursquare, this will all be available to you later this week (for free!). We’ve also hit a pretty amazing milestone – there are nearly 1,000,000 businesses claimed on foursquare. Want to join them and get access to all the free tools to reach your loyal fans in our 20,000,000-strong community?Get started now!