Foursquare Day: Tampa Takes a Leadership Role in the Social Media Universe
April 14, 2010
Dr. Nate
This is a story about how a mild-mannered optometrist from Westchase (a suburb of Tampa) got an idea and rallied the entire world around it. For the first time in history there is a top ten list upon which Tampa and Beijing are mentioned in the same breath. It’s the list of top participating cities celebrating Foursquare Day.
It started when Dr. Nate Bonilla-Warford (just call him Dr. Nate) was thinking about new ways to promote his business, wrote a few blog posts about it, a few tweets and now there are parties organizing all over the world. He was playing around with Foursquare, a social media application where users can “check-in” at stores, restaurants, bars, optometrists, etc. and comment about their experience. (It’s another way people are sharing information about places they recommend.) Then Dr. Nate started thinking about the math. 4-squared. The 4th month, and the 4-squared day and thus the world is getting ready to celebrate Foursquare Day this Friday 4/16 and businesses all over the world can benefit and users and consumers can have fun with it.
“It doesn’t appeal to everyone, but there is enough geek pride on the internet it’s appealing,” says Dr. Nate. And to reach those it does appeal to, business owners need to take notice. If your business wants to participate, all you have to do is post your Foursquare Day Special on the website (just be sure to read the instructions first) and voila! – you’re in. No financial investment required and you’ve got a free listing, advertising and PR. Hopefully you will attract new customers. Give them a great experience, something to talk about, and chances are they will comment about it on Foursquare, recommending your business to other users. It’s all good for business.
To get the full story on Foursquare Day, I interviewed Dr. Nate, the mastermind who came up with idea of a global social media holiday that could benefit local businesses…
Me: Who can participate in Foursquare Day?
Dr. Nate: Everyone is invited – all Foursquare users, businesses and anyone else who is just curious and wants to learn more. It’s a day for people who don’t know what social media is but these swarms (events) are a free casual, low intensity way to interact with business owners who use it to benefit their lives. This kind of social, educational events aren’t available wide-scale. Anyone can come. Non-social media users can come. They might become a user. It’s beyond Foursquare.
Me: How can businesses use it to develop customer loyalty?
Dr. Nate: Thank your customers. They come back enough and demonstrate loyalty you give them discounts and stuff. They appreciate it so you become a special place in their life. You are more on their radar if you didn’t have that level of involvement. As a consumer, you feel a bond with that place!
Me: Why are consumers and businesses using Foursquare?
Dr. Nate: It’s fun to check in as a consumer. But the reason I got on board and so have the others who are helping put this together is from business point of view… We see an opportunity to promote ourselves and develop stronger relationships with patients and customers at no cost.
From a business owner’s perspective – there is only so many ways you can market yourselves. Pour $$ into ads and get almost no return. It’s so frustrating. But this is so simple. It’s the simplicity of foursquare that is it’s strength.
Me: So, Tell me everything.
Dr. Nate: I didn’t expect this to happen. Every single day since the beginning there would be a little step as more people became interested and involved. And now it’s getting really amazing. Mumbai. Jakarta. Seoul. Beijing. Today I even heard from foursquare and they were all excited – “this list has a 100 different cities on it!”
Me: So, What does this mean for Tampa?
Dr. Nate: The fact we started it is good for Tampa. It’s a positive story getting global attention and all eyes are on Tampa. People aren’t going to move here because we started it, but it gives people something to rally around. Tampa takes a leadership role in the social media universe. We are not the underdog in this realm!
Mayor Iorio has even formally proclaimed it Foursquare day!!! That’s interesting in and of itself.
Me: What trends do you notice in the businesses and cities who are participating?
Dr. Nate: Manchester, NH and North Andover, MA have huge #s of businesses signed up on it.
It’s very interesting that mid-sized communities have embraced this more than anything else. Towns of 2-3k people nope. Big cities nope. Not a single event in San Diego. There’s one in L.A. and one in NY which is the people from foursquare themselves. But in smaller cities there are multiple swarms (events).
Coming out of recession and all businesses are looking for any angle to promote without any money to burn – that’s one angle why it’s so successful. It takes no financial investment on the part of the business owner – they just say they are going to do it, and then the town gets excited.
I don’t know why – but thinking about it … it has to do with the face those mid-sized communities are where people have balance between their real-life and social networks. There’s a feeling like, “it’s my city and I’m going to go to the extra effort for this to happen here.” Whereas in Chicago, not so much. Mid-size cities people can just jump in and take ownership of it
Foursquare Day has gone from non-existent to cool event in less than a month. Larger corporations aren’t involved because they can’t react that fast. Even if they know about it, want to make a decision they can’t because to react would take too much effort. Big corporations want to sponsor some of the events, but their hands are tied becaue they can’t respond with agility – their structure is such there are too many steps along the way.
Smaller biz who make up mid-sized comm. Can take advantage of it . I call my wife, ask her what she thinks about me putting on a sale. Then I walk across the street and tell my neighbor he should do the same thing. Small businesses have the ability to take advantage of this whereas huge corporations can’t. That reality plays a role in why certain communities have been able to get on board.
Me: What’s it been like putting Foursquare Day together?
Dr. Nate: This whole experience has been wild. An outrageous amount of work. On another level it’s so fast and so unknown. I’ve gone from being someone who’s enjoyed and appreciated social media to forging new ground – it’s a totally different place to be. I haven’t had the time to try to read books on what to do when you are starting a global movement and how to deal with various situations, so we’re just making it up as we go along.
The reality is this is the most bare-bones skelton crew I’ve ever been a part of. There are other events and projects I’ve been involved in where people who volunteer it’s just a little part of their lives. But with Foursquare Day we know there is a deadline and we’ve all thrown ourselves into it.
Me: Why are other people so dedicated to making Foursquare Day happen?
Dr. Nate: Lots of different reasons.
- The sheer novelty of idea even when it was really small with no attention. For the people who got on early it was a new thought. It’s not that often where people really are part of something completely new.
- Foursqaure being hot is part of attraction.
- The concept of it being a math-based holiday has a geek quality that’s attractive. It doesn’t appeal to everyone, but there is enough geek pride on the internet it’s appealing!
Me: What can businesses learn from this?
Dr. Nate: Businesses can learn that you are not going to garner attention appealing to everyone. Get niche!!!
When I first started mulling over the idea of Foursquare Day, I wondered how many people could this realistically reach…
- 500,000 people use foursquare
- Maybe 10% are passionate enough to care about the idea of a Foursquare Day. That’s 50,000.
- Of that 50,000, maybe 50% are engaged and the other 50% are not paying attention so maybe 25,000 that will be interested.
- Even 10% of those people is 2500 people it’s a sizable chunk. And that’s what we almost are on our fb page now!
Me: Would you want to stop being an eye dr. and just do social media?
Dr. Nate: No way! I did it to promote my practice. It’s a very diff kind of lifestyle. I look forward to returning to my normal life. Soon. I have a lot of work to catch up on.
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And last but not least, there’s a party a.k.a “swarm” happening in downtown Tampa on Foursquare Day 4/16/10
6-9pm at the Hyatt Regency downtown
211 N. Tampa St.
- Free WIFI.
- Free appetizers.
- Generous food & drink specials.
- Tons of prizes and fun stuff!
How Can a Wiki Help the Homeless?
March 16, 2010
Last year I had the privilege of working with the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County (HCHC) where I learned about the need for a ‘one-stop-shop’ – a central location where citizens in need could go and get direction on how and where to get help. Hillsborough County has the largest homeless population in the state of Florida. That translates to approximately 10,000 men, women and children in search of finding shelter, food, clothing, a hot shower, education, job assistance and more on a daily basis. With the huge obstacles like funding making it impossible to realize a physical location, I started wondering what a digital solution might look like.
That’s when I met Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia and Co-Founder of Wikia, who confirmed that a wiki platform could work to collect, organize and disseminate information about homeless services and that it was already being successfully done in San Francisco.
Rayme Nuckles, CEO of the HCHC, supported the idea saying, ““We are thrilled to be able to offer this new resource to the community, specifically for our homeless neighbors and those working to improve the quality of their lives. This wiki will provide up to date information that printed publications cannot.” The result is the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki.
Why use a wiki?
“The great thing about a wiki is that it provides a tool for quality organization without central planning or top down control. Anyone in the community who wants to help out, can help out. Every service provider can check and update their own entry to make sure the information is timely and accurate. Ordinary community members who are Internet savvy can help improve the wiki as a way to get involved.” – Jimmy Wales
How does the homeless resource wiki work?
The goal of the wiki is to provide a central point of collaboration and a channel to disseminate all types of information and tools to use in helping homeless citizens. Anyone can contribute to the wiki – it is a volunteer-driven resource that can be edited by any user. If you want to help, we invite you to view our training videos, learn some basic wiki-editing skills and jump in!
My vision for the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki
Jimmy and I caught up this week and he told me a story about sitting on a panel with Bill Clinton about Technology and Education in the Developing World at the World Economic Forum. Bill Clinton was talking about the Clinton Global Initiative and how his staff is working to coordinate relief efforts in Haiti. Clinton pointed and said, “When my staff needs information, they can easily find it, Thanks to you Jimmy!”
That’s pretty awesome.
It made me start thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if someday soon we get to hear that same sentiment on a micro-level as the wiki grows more robust with resources and people say, “When we need information about homeless services, we can easily find it, Thanks to the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki!”
Tampa TweetUp coming to The Florida Aquarium
May 4, 2009
I am thrilled to announce the next Tampa TweetUp is happening May 23, 2009 at THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM
If you’ve been to one of our previous TweetUps, you know Josh and I like to bring you to special spots in our city that give us a little somethin’ extra to tweet about.
The Worlds Most Dangerous Tweet
The fine folks at The Aquarium are partnering with us to introduce brand new, never-before-imagined tweet opportunities.
Two LUCKY Tweeple will have the opportunity to Swim with the Fishes! And, as if that wasn’t amazing enough one of our Tweetup members is actually going to Dive with the Sharks!! As far as we know, this will be a tweeting first for America Aquariums.
Who will the lucky tweeple be? Follow both myself @JuliaGorzka and @SIGEPJEDI on twitter for details a chance at this giveaway!
Tweetup Schedule:
3:00 PM – Arrival and Welcome in Taylor Great Room
3:30 PM – Animal Encounters in Taylor Great Room
4:00 PM – General Aquarium Viewing (Swim with the Fishes and Dive with the Sharks taking place in the tanks)
4:30 PM – Cantina food service ends
5:00 PM – Coral Reef Dive Show (and SCUBA divers special welcome to Tweeters)
5:30 PM – Penguin Promenade in the Coral Reef Gallery
5:30 PM – Cantina bar closes
6:00 PM – Tweetup ends
***Cash bar***
RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/tampabloggers/calendar/10333946/
This is one TweetUp you don’t want to be late too!
** We appreciate your sharing this event with your friends and online followers.
Please HashTag with #tbtweet
Wondering What’s a TweetUp?
Meet other local Tweeple (People in Twitterspeak) who enjoy Twitter, blogging, podcasts and just all that is social media & beyond for an evening of drinks and great conversation. Enjoy a night out of the office or home, Away from your computer, to dork out with others who share similar passions of social networking and have a few drinks.
Like minds gathering to both share and learn. Whether your a webmaster, business professional, professional blogger, PR or Marketing professional, social media junkie, or even just looking to learn this event is for you! It’s an all you can eat brain food buffet, with fellow tech dorks sharing their passions & discoveries. Business deals have also been known to go down!
We aggregate all Tampa Twitter chatter over at TampaBloggers.com! Join the conversation!
Hash Tag: #tbtweet
RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/tampabloggers/calendar/10333946/
Tampa TweetUp News
April 15, 2009
Putting On the Tampa TweetUp
As co-host of the Tampa TweetUp and an evangelist for getting the word out about local awesomeness, I like to plan our gatherings at cool, unique, unexpected places.
For March, my co-host Tampa Bloggers’ Founder Josh Carrico and I partnered with Walker Brands. Space limitations required us to limit RSVPs to 60 people and we had a waiting list within 48 hours. The night of the event saw several “Tweet Crashers.”
With the help of Nancy Walker, we cooked up some new ideas for March including optional Think Tank Sessions on “Building your Brand with Tweets,” “Tweeting into the Future,” and “Early adopters: What Technologies are You Using?”
We staged a video tweet booth (like a confessional) – were we asked our local tweeps to share why they were at the TweetUp, how Twitter has changed their life and how they explain.
As always, we had streaming live tweets tagged #tbtweet projecting throughout the night
WHY:
Twitter has emerged as a forum for people to connect virtually and develop relationships. It’s a universal equalizer giving people the ability to connect with others they would otherwise not be able to. The TweetUp is an opportunity for great minds to come together and experience emerging communications. Tweeple can now bring the conversation offline, meet the people they’ve been following and communicate in an entirely new way.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER:
Hash Tag: #tbtweet
@walkerbrands (TweetUp Partner)
@TampaBloggers (For Future TweetUp Notices)
@sigepjedi (Co-host Josh Carrico)
@juliagorzka (Me!)