Keep up with the conversation. It’s a new notification tray!

At foursquare, we often talk of going ‘beyond the check-in.’ There are so many interesting things that are happening out in the world that you want to keep up on, like when you and a buddy both have the same place on your To-Do Lists (serendipity!), or when a friend comments on your check-in. Today, we’re rolling out an easy way to keep track of all those things: our new notification tray.

People in the Android-iverse, you’re first to play with this; download today’s update to get started. For the rest of you, head over to foursquare.com to see what it’s all about (just click on ‘notifications’).

The notification tray on foursquare.com (left) and on Android (right)

Even if you’re not checking in, the new notification tray is a great reason to open the app or visit foursquare.com. It helps you keep up on everything. It keeps you posted when things happen, including:

• a friend comments on one of your check-ins;
• there are new comments or photos on a check-in you’ve commented on;
• your friend does one of the Tips you’ve left;
• you and a friend both have the same place on your To-Do List;
• a place you’re at starts swarming;
• one of your Facebook friends joins foursquare; and,
• you’re ousted as Mayor (boo!).

Now, in one organized place, you can see more of what’s going on in your friends’ lives.

We also added some more controls over these notifications. On your Android phone, just go to your settings and you can flip on and off any one you want, and the same is true of settings on the web. We’re also introducing a new mute button, so you can turn off notifications for an hour, or until the next morning.

In our testing, we found the notification tray made our foursquare experience feel a ton more connected. We hope you like it, too!

P.S. iPhone and BlackBerry users, we’re working to get the notification tray to you as quick as possible, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the new notification tray on foursquare.com.