The idea came to me yesterday, how I could harness the power of social networking sites like Foursquare to help local businesses who are struggling to stay afloat after the massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake which hit the region of Canterbury on 4th September 2010.
Many, many buildings were damaged or destroyed during this earthquake and the thousands of aftershocks which have continued to unsettle the area in the 4 months since. Thankfully, hallelujah, no lives were lost, but some livelihoods are now on the line as some businesses continue to fight against the power of the earth to keep running. One heartbreaking example is Winnie Bagoes, a much-loved local gourmet pizza restaurant. As One News reported on the aftershocks on Boxing Day 2010; "After September's earthquake, Winnie Bagoes had to relocate from its damaged building. Yesterday's earthquakes have now damaged their new building"
So what does Foursquare have to do with it? If I can convince the team at Foursquare to add a new badge, earned by users checking in to X number of participating local businesses in the Christchurch City, Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts, hopefully it will encourage Cantabrians to get out there and support these businesses with their patronage! In this way we can harness the 7.1 magnitude power of the original quake and multiply it, hence the name; 7point1squared!
There will be no cost to the users other than the existing charges on their mobile devices, none to the businesses other than voluntary discounts/specials they wish to offer and none to Foursquare other than their time and effort creating and implementing the badge (which I hope they will be willing to do to aid this cause) and yet everyone wins!
My goals are:
1. Contact Foursquare with my idea and get them on board
2. Contact local businesses affected by the earthquakes to encourage them to set up their venues on Foursquare and offer discounts/specials to Foursquare users
3. Obtain support from other companies/organisations in the form of advertising or products/services which we can giveaway to users who earn the Foursquare badge (which I like to call "Off the Richter" in my head!) One idea is a commemorative t-shirt which isn't available for sale and users can claim only by showing proof of their badge.
4. Promote the initiative locally (and nationally?) with said advertising
If you want to help, please contact me here or on Twitter or email!
So, here we go!
So what does Foursquare have to do with it? If I can convince the team at Foursquare to add a new badge, earned by users checking in to X number of participating local businesses in the Christchurch City, Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts, hopefully it will encourage Cantabrians to get out there and support these businesses with their patronage! In this way we can harness the 7.1 magnitude power of the original quake and multiply it, hence the name; 7point1squared!
There will be no cost to the users other than the existing charges on their mobile devices, none to the businesses other than voluntary discounts/specials they wish to offer and none to Foursquare other than their time and effort creating and implementing the badge (which I hope they will be willing to do to aid this cause) and yet everyone wins!
My goals are:
1. Contact Foursquare with my idea and get them on board
2. Contact local businesses affected by the earthquakes to encourage them to set up their venues on Foursquare and offer discounts/specials to Foursquare users
3. Obtain support from other companies/organisations in the form of advertising or products/services which we can giveaway to users who earn the Foursquare badge (which I like to call "Off the Richter" in my head!) One idea is a commemorative t-shirt which isn't available for sale and users can claim only by showing proof of their badge.
4. Promote the initiative locally (and nationally?) with said advertising
If you want to help, please contact me here or on Twitter or email!
So, here we go!
