I was inspired by Amanda Phraner’s post, Foursquare for Advocacy. I have been using Foursquare for nearly a year now and love it (in fact I am the Mayor of Toscana West on I St, NW, DC between 13th and 14th… great place for lunch in the bar).
The idea of using Foursquare for advocacy makes a lot of sense, taking the flash mob notion to another level. Because Foursquare lets you post the address where you are and a brief comment, it is a great way to tell the world about demonstrations, events, and other activist activities you want people to join.
This has great potential, and it doesn’t matter that there are only 1 million Foursquare users, which is rather a lot, anyway. Not only is Foursquare mobile, allowing you to check in from anywhere, but it can post your check-in message and address to Twitter and Facebook. This immediately reaches out to all of your followers and friends and taps into the viral potential we all know and love.
But it can be even more effective if you include hashtags to your message for Twitter. Adding #p2 will expose your Foursquare post to hundreds of thousands of progressive activists and adding the #tcot/#teaparty/#sgp tags will expose your post to comparable numbers of conservatives.
If you are at a health care reform event, add the #HCR hashtag to reach people engaged on that issue. Or #CO2/#climate/#green/#COP15 to reach clean energy and climate activists. At a labor rally? Add #labor or #EFCA to reach beyond your list to the broader labor community.
So, don’t feel constrained by the relatively small audience on Foursquare. Because it links to two of the largest and most vibrant social networks for activism, you are limited only by your own creativity.
So start your Foursquare networks and come visit me at Toscana West.
Awesome post. Geolocation + hashtagging = a great combination for sparking collective action, which of course is what advocacy is all about.