When I heard about Four Square day last week, on 4/16, I got a little excited. I had thought that it was a great idea. I found that one of the cities around me (Manchester, NH) was participating in the day. I looked at the local sponsors and tried to figure out how I could participate, given the fact that they were “passing out” a special badge to those who participated, I could not pass that up.
After looking at the Four Square day website I noticed that there were not many locations participating. I then went to the Facebook Manchester page and noticed that there were other places that were participating that were not advertised on the Four Square official page. Hmmmm, why not? Was this because Four Square did not promote this that heavily? Was it because the agency that was running the Facebook page did not upload the events into the Four Square Day page?
I am sure that the event was a success and got the word about to local businesses that were either unknowing of Four Square or unsure of what the benefits would be.
The promotion in my eyes seemed rushed. There did not seem to be much promotion over the event in general, a centralized location to find businesses that were participating, or a straightforward way to participate, from a business or end user standpoint. Maybe I am being a little harsh, but, as many others I really see the benefits that this application/tool has for local businesses.
For those of you who participated, what are your thoughts? Did you find it easy, or do you think that it could have been organized better?
ps. For some reason when I logged into the location in the area that was sponsoring, I did not receive the badge. I am not bitter by any means, am unsure why I did not get it, but still think that it could have been better organized.
Social Media Strategy, Moderation & Management Musings 
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April 21, 2010 at 9:32 am
Maggie McGary
I personally was disappointed in it and totally agree with you that it seemed rushed, and was a weird mix of “official” yet not. I live in a suburb of DC and barely anyone uses Foursquare here yet. I checked in several places on Foursquare day and nothing magical happened at all. I thought there was a Foursquare Day badge that you got just for checking in on that day but nope.
Seems to me that Foursquare is kind of an awkward mix of official and user-contributed. So, for instance, a self-declared day like Foursquare Day seems like it should have been more officially-led–for instance, anyone who used Foursquare that day got the Foursquare Day badge. Instead, it seems like it was up to individual businesses to plan their own events/badges?
I think the whole “Foursquare is the next Twitter” hype is a little premature and being manufactured to a large degree by marketers who are hoping to make a mint off getting businesses to pay them to orchestrate their Foursquare activities. I use it out of curiosity but I do have some privacy concerns; also, I have an iPhone and Foursquare either doesn’t work or is deadly slow pretty much half of the time. I don’t really feel like standing there for 3 minutes while I wait for my check-in to take or for Foursquare to find the place I’m trying to check in at. Also, because the whole thing is based on individuals adding information, there are a ton of duplicates, which kind of negates the usefulness. As much as marketers and Foursquare itself are trying to sell it to local businesses as a great tool, if I were a business I’d see it more as a headache: if I do an offer for the mayor, what happens when five different people enter my establishment under a slightly different name then all want whatever freebie I’m giving? And what prevents people from just driving by and checking in vs actually going in?
Can you tell I’ve thought about this WAY too much? 😉
April 21, 2010 at 9:46 am
mikepascucci
Maggie,
Thanks for the comment. Marketers are going wild with “The Next this and that” I totally agree.
I really think that there are a lot of people who see the benefits of FourSquare – from the gaming aspect, to the local business aspect to the networking aspect, which is why we are all so passionate and concerned at the same time.
Mike P | @mikepascucci
April 21, 2010 at 9:52 am
Pauline Brannigan
Mike,
I thought the idea was terrific. I actually sent some of the hype on to people on our Town/Area Economic Development Council. I was hugely disappointed to discover not one event listed in CT and I felt it was too late to try and plan one. My suggestion to them would be to reach out to their advocates in advance to have an event with some planning ideas for both businesses and individuals. I have been looking specifically to see how Foursquare can be added into the mix as a social technology business solution. My initial thought is it is the one consumer social networking solution that specifically is terrific for the small business.
I do hope they can pull this off next year and perhaps have some additional activities through out the year. Look forward to seeing you on our FourSquare leader border.
Pauline (@pbrannigan)
April 21, 2010 at 9:58 am
mikepascucci
Pauline,
The idea was great but the execution was severely lacking organization. I am trying to gather as many badges as I can, adn hope to get on a leaderboard somewhere, I am after all Mayor of 13 places. It is nice to live in an area where too many people don’t leverage it, at the moment that is.
Mike P | @mikepascucci
April 26, 2010 at 1:20 pm
mikepascucci
Here is some additional insight into FourSquare day, looks like it was a fast-moving and last minute suggestion by the Community members. I am not faulting FourSquare, I just hope that they organize a little better next year.
http://www.microarts.com/culture/branding-insights/2010/04/3-takeaways-from-foursquare-and.php