Foursquare and PR: Great learning experience through class writing assignment

One of the emerging social media applications that has gotten public relations professionals, businesses, and corporations actively involved in has been Foursquare.  Foursquare (www.foursquare.com) is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at venues.  It allows people to share their experiences, thoughts, and opinions about checking in at a specific location.  Plus, businesses have been offering exclusive deals and coupons to those individuals who check into their Foursquare account.  Starbucks, Gap, and many other well-known brands are making headlines for their mobile application campaigns, and some have been very successful.  In an age where technology use and understanding how and why it is used – is the key to success in getting a public relations job.  So, I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to let my students experiment with this site, but do it from a PR perspective.  So, this evolved into creating a Foursquare Assignment for my class this fall.  For my PR Principles class, one of the out-of-class assignments I gave my students was to write a paper about Foursquare. Here is what they had to do:

1. Cover page: Title of your Foursquare assignment, name, PR 270 Section 002, and due date on the cover page.
2. Introduction to Foursquare: Provide a brief overview of what Foursquare is, timeline of its progression in social media, and how many users and businesses are currently using the site. (1 paragraph). Provide a sentence or two about Foursquare, what is the purpose of Foursquare, what type of social media site is it, and how do people use Foursquare.  Make sure to provide a brief timeline of Foursquare (when it was founded, who started the site, how many users are on it now, etc).Provide a couple of well-known examples of some established brands and businesses using Foursquar
3. Background of Company: Write a brief background overview of the company / restaurant / business you will be checking in with in the Knoxville area.  Make sure to include their overall business mission, headquarters, what services and products they have, what social media sites are they on including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc (1-2 paragraphs)
4. Business on Foursquare: Determine if the business you have chosen is on Foursquare.How are they using Foursquare to gain awareness and interaction with their customers, media, and other stakeholders?  Who do you think is their primary stakeholder group they are targeting?  If the business is not on Foursquare, why do you think they are not on Foursquare.  Are they on any other social media sites? (1-2 paragraphs).
5. PR and Foursquare Implications: Based on what we discussed in class in terms of new technology and social media within public relations, what are the benefits for this business to use Foursquare? What are some of the risks / challenges they might be facing with Foursquare? Put yourself in the role of the PR professional for this business and what you would recommend they do in terms of implementing a Foursquare campaign, or not (3 – 4 paragraphs). Based on what we have discussed so far in class, what are some issues and considerations this business should think about when looking at Foursquare for their business? (ex. PRSA Code of Ethics, Legal implications and PR, Privacy issues,  Consumer relations, Crisis communications, Research, etc.
6. (OPTIONAL) Check out the business Foursquare page: What do you think of their page?  Was it easy to check in?  What information was there / or if there was anything you thought they should have that was missing. You can either check into Foursquare with your phone or laptop.
7. BONUS: Contact the representative for the business to get their insights and discuss what made them get their business on Foursquare in terms of their PR.

So, the result of this assignment was very positive. I got to see which companies or locations my students thought were good to look at and see if they were on Foursquare or not, and their overall analysis from implementing this new emerging technology for this particular business, and what are some of the implications, opportunities, and challenges in using this from a public relations standpoint.  I have seen papers that discussed Starbucks, Crown and Goose (local and popular restaurant pub here in Knoxville), Calhoun’s, and the Knoxville Zoo to name a few locations.  What I found was that my students were at first not aware of this site, but once they got into it – they had fun with it.  I was pleasantly pleased and impressed with the level of professionalism, insight, and analysis that my students gave me in their assignments.  Their perspectives were concise, but they openly shared their opinions about whether or not it was appropriate using Foursquare for their particular business.  The students also discussed what are some of the risks and challenges public relations professionals and these businesses have to face with this type of new technology (ex. privacy issues, crisis communications, legal and ethical issues, etc).

Overall, it was a fun assignment to give to my students, and I am most likely going to do it again for my class next semester. 🙂 Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Best Wishes,

Karen