1. What is foursquare? foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. The tool was developed to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but to also encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways. Most importantly for campaigns though, it allows your supporters to easily notify their networks that they are volunteering and working in your campaign office.
2. foursquare is located @ www.foursqaure.com
3. How do I get it on my phone? Foursquare apps are available for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre. If you don't have one of these phones, you can always use their mobile website or if you prefer to check in via SMS (US only) you can send a text to 50500 (like this: @ Advocacy 2.0 Campaign Office ! Makin’ dials!)
4. Where is foursquare available? foursquare anywhere in the world! Check-in at the Statue of Liberty in NYC, the Golden Gate Bridge in SF, Java Joes in DSM or Ben’s Chili Bowl in WDC.
5. What is a check-in? When you notify foursquare where you are, that is called "checking-in". You can check-in from parks, bars, museums, airport, post offices, restaurants... really anywhere. When you check-in foursquare will let your friends know where they can find you and award you points and badges based on your adventurousness.
6. How does foursquare know where I am? The foursquare apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm use GPS to show a list of nearby places. To check-in, just choose the name of the place you are at from this list of nearby places. If they don't have the place you are looking for you can always add it to their listings. Don't worry, foursquare doesn't know where you are unless you check-in to tell them your location.
7. It is important that you add your campaign office(s) to the list of venues/places. To do so, go here and provide the necessary information - http://foursquare.com/add_venue. The more details you provide the better as maps are usually connected to network notification tweets and posts when people check in at your site/venue.
8. What is "The Mayor" all about? If you have been to a place more than anyone else foursquare will crown you the "The Mayor" of that place. Presently lots of bars and cafes are now offering "Mayor Specials" - a free coffee or appetizer or maybe a special discount to the mayors of their venues. Watch out though - once someone else comes along who has checked-in more times that you, they can steal the "Mayor" title back from you. There is no reason a campaign and campaign office(s) couldn’t offer similar prizes and recognition for volunteers – like hats, stickers, access to special briefings, etc. Register your campaign office and prizes/specials here - http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGpIS0R2U3YwXzVSczhYRFpyakVfSHc6MA
9. For ideas and photos on how small businesses are using this feature click here - http://foursquare.com/businesses/
10. Remember - If someone wants to become mayor of a certain location they will need to have uploaded a profile photo
11. What are badges? Badges are little rewards you earn for doing checking-into interesting places. For example, staying out late on a school night or frequenting too many karaoke bars. A lot of their badges are tied to venue "tags". People use tags to describe the places on foursquare (e.g. jukebox, pool table, fireplace, pizza, etc)
12. The site is constantly adding new badges and would love to hear your suggestions. – make sure your campaign office(s) are listed and suggest a badge for “phone dials,” “precinct walks,” “sign assembly,” etc.
13. How does one I earn points? Most foursquare check ins will earn you points. You can earn points for your first check in at a certain place or by adding a new place to our listings. The site displays a list of the users who have racked up the most points on the "leaderboard". The idea is that the more you experience, the more places you visit, etc. the higher your score for that week. The leaderboard resets every Sunday at midnight.
14. Here's how points are currently awarded: +5 points for your first time checking-in at a venue, +5 points for adding a new venue, +1 point for per check in, increasing by +1 with each check in (e.g. your 1st check in of the day is +1, 2nd check in of the day +2 points, etc)
15. What can I do with these points? Not clear yet – there were discussions in December 2009 to tie points to charity but nothing final.
16. Remember – now with extensive social network acceptance, most volunteer activity and campaign support doesn’t have to take place in a vacuum. From donations to outright posts of support, adding foursquare to your social campaigning efforts will allow supporters to easily display their volunteer work. In addition, the site provides another tool for you to reward volunteers in a fun and socially integrated way.
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