Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 by Dario Meli

Any HootSuite user knows that Invoke is at the forefront of social technology development. We’re pretty good at using new technologies, too. A bunch of us have been using foursquare, the trendy, location-based social game, since its debut at SXSW this year. foursquare launches in Vancouver today.

I’ve been spending time in the States lately, during which I’ve been honing my foursquare skills. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I realized that I was inadvertently ranking high on the leaderboard for the city’s ‘mayorship,’ the ultimate symbol of credibility in the foursquare universe. I went to #2, missing a run for #1 by mere points, but picked up some excellent suggestions for new users of foursquare in the process. My tips:

Start early in the week
Points are reset each week, so landing at LAX on a Tuesday wasn’t ideal, but I started tallying points quickly, starting with LAX itself.

Explore
Getting out is important because you’re rewarded for hitting new-to-you places, and the more places you check into the more you accumulate. Check in once and you get a point, check in twice and earn an additional 2 points, not just one. This is a great feature but my advice is: don’t be obnoxious. Wigs Today doesn’t need to be checked into (though I admit, it was tempting). Ditto, your colonics clinic.

Discover
Finding and adding new places to the database gives you 5 extra points on top of the 5 you get for checking into a place for the first time. It’s all about discovery and finding new locations in the city you’re in. Being an outsider gave me a bit of an advantage because each place was new to me.

Get Creative
There are often places within places, as well as overarching areas that can be checked into. Malls, farmers markets, parks, & chill spots can all legitimately be discovered and checked into. Your backyard or sofa, not so much. The bar in my hotel shares the same address but is distinctly different. I added it, checked in, became Mayor of Bar Centro. Booyeah!

Mayorship
Becoming Mayor isn’t super challenging but when you have it, you need to OWN it. Visit places which people who play foursquare aren’t likely to frequent. I was dining at Matsuhisa, checked in and it wasn’t on the list so I got the extra points. I went back a few nights later for their incredible chocolate bento box souffl?© and BAM! Mayor. At present, the hotel I’ve been staying at, the SLS, doesn’t have many visitors who play foursquare, so it was easy to own that too.

Tactical Advantage
Finally, if you are rolling with somebody who you know has checked in the same amount of times as you, let them check in first. They might make Mayor, but only for seconds. You’ll find more tips for foursquare noobs here, courtesy of TechVibes.

Parting Wisdom
When I come back to Vancouver to visit, the Mayors of Gastown better guard their grills! I’m starting with Diamond and Chambar. James Chutter, you can keep Six Acres.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Invoke, Just for Fun, Social Media, Trends, Vancouver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.