Thing #44: Foursquare

Between Thing #42 causing one participant to comment on my broadcasting of my location on Twitter, and Thing #43 where Emily introduced us to hyper-local information, talking about Foursquare, just seemed like a natural follow-up.

By way of introduction here’s a quick video about how Foursquare works:
How To Unlock Your World With Foursquare on Howcast

Even if you don’t have a cell phone or just find the idea of letting the whole Internet know where you are creepy, don’t worry, there are still some things you can do with Foursquare, especially when it comes to the library.

Let’s take a look at the major features of Foursquare.

Locations

Every location in Foursquare has its own page. For example the page for the Bennett Martin Public Library here in Lincoln lists its address and phone number, gives a map of its location, tells me how many times I’ve checked in there, along with the total number of check-ins from all Foursquare users. You can also read the tips for the location and leave a tip yourself. (Assuming you’re logged in.) If the place has a mayor, that person is also listed.

If there are any specials for a particular location they will also be listed on this page.

Badges

As you check in at different locations you eventually start earning badges. The number of available badges is huge. The first badge people usually earn is the Adventurer badge for checking in at ten different locations.

Some badges are location-type specific as in the Barista badge for checking in at multiple coffee shops. Others, like the I Voted 2010 badge was earned for checking in at a polling place on Election day 2010. Others such as the Overshare badge are more humorous. You earn this one by checking in at more than 10 locations in a 12 hour period.

The badges themselves don’t actually mean all that much. They’re there more to turn Foursquare into a bit of a game just to make it a little more interesting.

Friends

As with most online social services today, Foursquare gives you the ability to have friends in the system. Connecting with other users give you the ability to be automatically notified as to where they are.

Obviously your mileage will vary when it comes to tracking your friends in Foursquare. Most of my friends don’t live anywhere near me so I only take advantage of this feature when we’re all in the same general vicinity such as a conference.

However, this past Christmas I was back home in Rochester, NY and checking in at various locations. One morning I checked in at a local coffee shop and shortly thereafter got a text message from someone I usually only see at conferences, but lives in Rochester, asking me what I was doing in town. If it wasn’t for Foursquare I may have totally forgotten and not reconnected with them on my trip.

Mayors

“A mayor in foursquare is the user with the most number of days with check-ins at a specific place within the past 60 days. Only one check-in per day counts towards your mayorship tally.”

This is the other game-like aspect to Foursquare. Typically being a location’s mayor earns you nothing more than bragging rights. However silly this might seem, I have found myself recently being a little upset when I lost the mayorship to my favorite sushi bar in Lincoln though I’m not really sure I can explain why.

By the way, “Only users with a photo uploaded to their account (no faceless mayors!) will be eligible, so you should upload a photo from your settings page.”

But sometimes, there are specials that a business will offer only to a mayor.

FYI: It is against Foursquare’s terms of service for employees of a business to be the mayor since employees have an unfair advantage of being there more often than customers. Once you claim a location, you can identify Foursquare accounts of employees which will prevent them from becoming mayor. (This is why I’m no longer the mayor of the Library Commission.)

Specials

As more and more people use Foursquare, businesses start to notice. As they notice more businesses start to offer specials for mayors or just for folks who check in. Here’s two examples.

This past summer, Starbucks offered a discount on frappuccinos to all the Starbucks mayors. At the time I was the mayor of the Starbucks down the street from the office so I was able to get the discounted refreshment.

Just this afternoon when I stopped into my local Qdoba restaurant to pick up some lunch I checked in and was told that I could earn a free chips & queso after checking in three times. I’m not sure this particular deal will get me to go there more often but it doesn’t hurt.

Here’s where the mobile-centric concept of Foursquare works for advertisers. When I open up the Foursquare app on my Droid it figures out where I am via GPS and then tells me what’s around me. If I see a “special offer” flag on a location, I’m much more likely to check out what the special is. If it’s good enough, that might actually make me patronize that business.

Claiming a location

Even if you’re not willing to play Foursquare, there’s something you should do for the library: make sure you’re listed and claim the location.

Making sure you’re listed is simple, do a search within Foursquare. If you find your library, you can scratch that off the list. (If your library is listed more than once, or contains incorrect information, we’ll deal with that shortly.)

If you library isn’t already listed you can add it via the add a venue page. Fill in all the appropriate information and submit it. Your library should be listed in the system nearly immediately.

(If you’re using a mobile app, and you want to check in somewhere that isn’t already in the system you can add the venue via the app. I don’t believe you can add a venue via text messaging.)

Once your library is listed, you can then claim that location. Claiming a location gives you the ability to do several things to your listing:

• Edit the venue details should they include wrong information.
• Create specials for your venue.
• Mark specific Foursquare users as employees so they can’t become the mayor.

The process of claiming a venue isn’t that difficult. First bring up the venue’s page and find the “Do you manage this venue? Claim here” banner. Click that link and follow the directions. (Basically, you give them the venue’s phone number and you’ll be called back with a recording that will give you a special code which you’ll need to enter into Foursquare.)

As you can guess this is just a brief introduction to the major features of Foursquare. Please take some time to look around the site and see what else you can find. (Hint: to-do lists)

Assignment:

Sign up for a Foursquare account and add me as a friend. Look up your library and see if it’s already in the system. If not, add it as a location. If it has not already been claimed, claim your library. Add a special if you’d like. (You may need to work with your library’s administration to make sure it’s ok that you’re taking this responsibility.)

If you have a cell phone, install the correct foursquare app for your phone (smartphones) or figure out how to check in via text message. Over a period of a few days, access Foursquare on your phone and see if there’s any information about where you are. Whether you check in or not is up to you.

Blog about your experience with Foursquare and/or your thoughts about the whole concept of geo-location services. Here are some questions to get you started:

• Does this whole thing freak you out or is it fun?
• Was your library already in the system? Did it have a mayor?
• Were other locations you regularly go to already in the system?
• Given the size of your town were you surprised, or not, about the number of local locations already in the system?