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!