There's an argument out there that while location-based social apps are making good ground when it comes to consumer penetration, many don't deliver all they could when it comes to actual gameplay.

Foursquare is certainly making an attempt to branch out and seed itself into as many sectors of its users' collective online activity as it can.

In this respect, a change to the way the app now registers member's history suggests the company is keen to move the service towards the social side of the genre, firmly encroaching on the likes of Facebook and MySpace.

Friendly Foursquare

As reported by TechCrunch, the app's associated website now lists its users' movements in terms of who they were with at the time.

For example, should they visit a location with a friend and both check-in at the same time, the site will log their check-in together - proving, in effect, that the two parties really are friends.

It moves Foursquare into solid social network territory.

While the site has always enabled strangers to link-up via Twitter and Facebook based on the venues they visit - connecting people who, after all, merely happen to check-in at the same locations as each other - by encouraging players to detail their movements with their real friends, Foursquare becomes part of the user's social calender.

Smile for the camera

Checking-in en masse has the potential to become an element of the event itself, just like the process millions of Facebook users go through every week, uploading pictures after a party or night out.

It opens up the possibility of Foursquare directly taking on social networks on that score – the next logical step perhaps awarding extra trophies and points if users post pictures while checking-in. Such a prospect would, again, expand the network further into its users' day-to-day activities.

With a new iPhone app expected later this week, it'll be interesting to see if Foursquare alters its UI to stress this new social-network style focus.