The story of #bubbleswarm Badges: We don’t need

Foursquare, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges. 

Actually we do.  Really.  Want them. 

But I digress.  The story begins earlier this week on Twitter as Matt Lake of Wine and Beer Westpark (@wbwestpark on Twitter) in Richmond’s fashionable West End, his wife Caroline (who works with me: full disclosure) and others were volleying back and forth on Twitter.  Someone, not sure who it was (maybe Kira Siddall, maybe not) brought up the quest for the holy grail of Foursquare — the elusive “Swarm Badge.” 

Lost? 

Foursquare, for the uninitiated, is the downloadable app/game, that allows people to “check-in” from places that they are visiting, eating at, hanging out at, etc.  It is enabled my GPS technology that now comes pretty much standard with mobile devices since that’s how it knows where you are.  Everytime you check in, you get points.  You can find friends on Foursquare and compete for status through points.  Visit a place often enough and they make you “mayor” of that place.  Foursquare also awards badges (a la Girl Scouts) for milestones.  

The primo milestone is the “Swarm Badge” awarded when 50 or more people check-in from one place within a short period of time.  Once you hit 50, their PDA’s or phones flash with the badge reward, they get congratulatory emails.  Life as they know it is very good in the world of Foursquare status. 

Before I go on and since the aim of this blog is to sometimes educate, I have written on Foursquare and its brothers Yelp and Gowalla before.  They are THE social media tools of the small business owner, who if they play the game the right way will reward visitors in real life for coming to their place of business to play this virtual game.  You can see the opportunity before you, can’t you?  By encouraging people to check in, they are encouraging them to come and spend time and money there in the first place…capeesh? 

So, back to this week.  The Swarm Badge.  So during the back and forth, Matt and Caroline made the following offer, come to WBWP on Thursday night at 6:30, we’ll offer some libation.  The goal was to get at least 50 people there to check-in to get the badge.  Hence, the event “#bubbleswarm” was born. 

Fast forward to last night, by estimates more than 75 people showed up to #bubbleswarm.  As is usual in a social media setting, many of the folks knew each other online and were finally meeting each other in person.  For others it was a chance to catch up.  For all, it was their shot at “The Badge.” 

The plan was for a synchronized check-in at 7:00pm sharp.  As happens sometimes with technology, some folks got through, some folks had network issues.  Foursquare also picked that exact time to have capacity issues. 

But we counted, in person and online.  The result?  More than 50 people, confirmed, checked in.  Really.  Scout’s honor. 

Did some get their badge? Yes.  Did I?  For some reason, no. 

Can’t say I’m not bummed. But at the end of the day the point was not the badge, but the fun and the company. 

For Matt and Caroline (and other small business owners), the point was exposure and sales.  As a PR person I’d be lying if I said that my head wasn’t spinning with the possibilities of how to incorporate such events into PR plans. 

There aren’t many things that compel that many people to go anywhere at the same time for a spontaneous (well, all most) celebration.  If you are a small business owner, take note. 

So again, Foursquare we don’t need your stinkin’  badges. 

(I wouldn’t be too upset if mine just magically appeared though.)