New Foursquare update keeps track of the type of places you go to.

The very first version of foursquare (January 2009) was built as a “leaderboard for Saturday night” – a way to motivate your friends to go out and explore the real world and a means to visualize your adventurousness. Points for check-ins, badges for accomplishments, and a leaderboard to compare the results with your friends all fed into this idea. At foursquare, we’re big believers in the power of software to encourage and motivate behavior, and while our first stab at a leaderboard hinted at some of the possibilities, it never got the love it deserved.

Today’s major overhaul to the leaderboard is a big step in the evolution of that original idea. You’ll see that we’ve replaced our old leaderboard (and its simple points system and Sunday night reset) with a sliding 7-day barometer of you and your friends. Check-ins now trigger points for dozens of different types of actions – everything from discovering new places, trying new types of restaurants, visiting new cities, getting groups together, hanging out with old friends, and a few things you might not expect.

…and expands out the Rewards program

So, later this week, we’re rolling out six new types of foursquare Specials for merchants. Business will now be able to offer Specials to swarms, groups of friends, regulars, newbies, Mayors, or simply to everyone. And, on the Places screen in the app, you’ll now see a list of all the Specials nearby, so it’s easier to find places that reward foursquare users. With over a quarter million businesses verified on foursquare, these new tools will mean more rewards for users everywhere in the world.

In case you missed it, they also signed a pretty big deal with American Express and they’re throwing a party at SXSW with Big Boi of Outkast.