Dominic Meiklejohn

Part of UK in USA [New York]

15th April 2011 New York, USA

Mayor of the Consulate

I wanted to let you know that I am considering changing my title here at the consulate.  Instead of Deputy Consul-General, I hope to soon be known as the “Mayor”.  No I am not declaring my candidacy against the honourable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York.  I am joining the wave of people from around the world who are “checking in” on the social media site Foursquare.   

From a retail business point of view, I am glad to see that people are checking in at a number of the well known British stores in New York—from Myers of Keswick and Tea & Sympathy to Molton Brown and Reiss in Soho.   

Taken one step further, the Foreign Office’s business benefit is in helping British Nationals.  The FCO has established an official FCO Travel Foursquare channel to provide relevant travel advice for locations around the world.   

In fact, Foursquare has become so popular in New York that Mayor Bloomberg has actually declared 16 April as Foursquare Day.  In his proclamation, he explained:

“New York City is proud to be the home of both the powerhouse companies and small start-ups that are thinking big, creating new jobs, and leading the global economy. Foursquare is one such success story. Started by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai around Dennis’s kitchen table in the East Village, it now employs more than 60 people in New York and has more than eight million users worldwide. That is why we are proud to join Foursquare’s founders and fans in celebrating the first global social media holiday. Today, April 16th—4/16, the fourth sixteenth of the year—is Foursquare Day in New York City and around the world.”

“Foursquare users check in by smartphone app or text message from different real-world locations, sharing their experiences with friends, posting updates to Twitter and Facebook, and earning points they can then exchange for virtual badges. Check in often enough from a particular venue, and you can become “Mayor” of that venue. If only I had known it were that easy! And it is not just a city’s or a town’s explorers who gain from checking in and reading reviews about the restaurants, shops, and nightspots that are competing for their business. Merchants, too, stand to benefit, as they connect with Foursquare users and offer the deals and specials that will attract new customers and keep them coming back.”

So Happy Foursquare Day!  I actually discovered that the consulate already has a mayor—my colleague Justin.  In the US, the 2012 presidential campaign season has yet to begin in earnest.  But I have let Justin know that the virtual competition to be mayor of the consulate is now in full swing.  Let the best Foursquarer win! 

About Dominic Meiklejohn

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise…

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1990. After working for the European Community Department, I learned Polish and began a posting at the British Embassy Warsaw, where I headed the British Know How Fund for Poland (1993-96). In 1997, I worked for the OSCE Mission in Albania, before heading up the India team in the South Asian Department of the FCO. In 2000, I was posted as First Secretary to the British Embassy Warsaw, with a particular focus on European Union issues in the run-up to Poland’s accession to the EU. In 2003, I returned to the UK as Deputy Head of the Environment Policy Department. From 2004-2005, I led the FCO’s Knowledge Management Programme. During this period, I led two deployments of the FCO’s Consular Rapid Deployment Team– to Sri Lanka, after the tsunami in 2004 and to Pakistan, after the earthquake in 2005. From 2006-2007, I served as Deputy Consul-General, Basra, Iraq. From June 2007 I worked with the FCO’s Change Unit.

I took up my current appointment on 22 January 2008. My wife Joanne and I are the proud parents of Olivia. Outside of the office, I cycle around Manhattan, play soccer (football) and, when parenting duties allow, enjoy the cultural riches offered by New York. I try hard to understand baseball.

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#4sqday advice FCO foursquare media social travel