Philly’s top 10 techie hotspots

Coordinating your friends for a night out in any city can be chaotic. The texts and phone calls required to get everyone at the same place at the same time can get tiresome. Luckily, as Apple says, there’s an app for that.
Mobile geolocation app Foursquare allows users to “check in” wherever they are, sending a notice to friends and online followers. Ideally, friends can then potentially catch up with each other during a night out.
Though the app is primarily used to for the purpose described above, the site Social Great has tapped-in to the data trail left by all those check-ins to compile the city’s top venues visited by Foursquare users, which typically tend to be young, tech-savvy folks with smartphones.
After the jump, we count down the 10 most popular places on Foursquare users and offer our insight on what makes the venue so damn popular among the city’s young techies.
10. Tattooed Mom
The South Street bar boasts one of the most interesting choices of décor in the city; Coney Island-esque furniture is complimented by walls covered in concert flyers, a mix between your grandparents’ living room and your favorite punk rock venue. Here, at least, grandmom won’t yell at you for playing with your phone.
9. Comcast Center 
Frankly, we’re surprised the forward-thinking folks at Comcast aren’t higher up on the list. Maybe they’ve been busying checking into Rockefeller Center.
8. PYT
As we’ve written before, this Northern Liberties burger joint is a master of utilizing emerging social media trends to help market the restaurant. Customers get a free draft for checking-in and Yelp reviewers can get a discount for printing out their reviews, good or bad. We recommend checking in thrice daily.
7. Digitas Health 
This Center City marketing company counts pharma companies as among its chief clients, giving employees the right mix of internet savvy and science nerdom to constantly check in to the workplace. These guys could teach Comcast a thing or two.
6. Pub on Passyunk East
The number of Foursquare check-ins at Pub on Passyunk East, which patrons refer to lovingly as POPE, just doesn’t add up. Yelp reviewers will tell you that the watering hole is delightfully average, but they’re still there weekly. We’ll just shrug our shoulders and ask for another Pabst, thank you.
5. Philadelphia Airport 
When you are one of the most commonly delayed airports in the country, there’s plenty of time for people to check-in on Foursquare. If only the transportation center could utilize all of those tweets and Facebook updates for good PR.
4. Rittenhouse Square 
Everyone who lives or works in Center City has felt the siren’s call of Rittenhouse Square whenever the weather breaks. Between people watching, occasional free WiFi and the surrounding cafes, Rittenhouse is a great place to get some work done away from the office. Or to, you know, just relax. But uhm, bring your frisbee, folks, not your phone.
3. Market East Station
All those commuters with iPhones need something to do while waiting for the train.
2. National Mechanics 
This Old City bar, just down the street from techie hangout Indy Hall, has long been considered a go-to hangout for the city’s nerds. The bar’s owners also run Weblinc, a web development firm located upstairs. And there’s good reason to have your phone here: patrons control the bar’s jukebox using an iPhone app.
1. 30th Street Station
Though recent numbers suggest that folks are leaving the ‘burbs to live in the city, Foursquare is telling us that they are all still taking the train in. Now that Amtrak is offering free WiFi in the perennial transportation hub, where better to check-in?
Read the whole story at Philly Mag’s Philly Post.