It's SXSW time and with it comes some changes to social networking giant, Foursquare. Foursquare have started rolling out the changes ahead of the official start of the event on the 11th.

The changes are somewhat different to what you'd expect and creates an evolving step toward something exciting for Foursquare. Version 3.0 brings a bunch of changes which are listed below. I'm sure Facebook won't be far behind this, Zuckerberg's fist must be shaking in the wind right about now.

Big change 1: Personalized recommendations

- We always look at our friends check-ins and Tips to get ideas of good restaurants in the area. Starting today, in the app, there's an easier way to do that. Tap on the 'Explore' tab and you'll be able to see recommendations based on where you go, what your friends do, and what the entire foursquare community likes. It's the easiest way to plan your nights out.

Big change 2: A whole new leaderboard

- A lot of you use foursquare to help motivate you to do things (get that Gym Rat badge!) or to compete with friends (who can get to the most new places in a week). We've updated our point system to reflect more of the things you're proud of, like going out with old friends or trying out an new restaurant in the neighborhood.

Big change 3: More and more types of Specials

- We created the first version of Specials because Mayors asked to be rewarded for their loyalty. But with over 7 million users, earning a mayorship is pretty hard now. So, we've created six new ways for businesses to reward your loyalty, and, starting today, you'll see them all in the app. More ways to save at more places: check in with friends, swarm specials, and more!

There are also a ton of small fixes and updates.