One of the great and intriguing things foursquare is connected with is health (and well-being). At first glance, you might not think that foursquare would be focused on or even care about something like fitness or health, but, in fact, they are really big on lifestyle and how its users live their lives. Interestingly, foursquare rewards people for their healthy habits (and sometimes not so healthy habits) via badges. For those really excited about earning badges, foursquare rewards those who go to the gym or connect with specific health-driven technology applications and services. To get the gym rat badge, for example, a foursquare user just has to go to the gym 10 times over the course of 30 days. That might not sound like much, but imagine if you are new to fitness or merely trying to get back in shape. With foursquare, you are rewarded for your fitness efforts. And it does not stop with the gym rat badge; instead, there are badges associated with partners within the health and fitness industry like Health Month, RunKeeper, FitBit. Health Month is the foursquare partnering service that helps users set monthly goals and then keep track of them throughout the month. At the end, if they achieve their lifestyle and fitness goals that they set (and at the level that they set), they achieve a new badge. On the other hand, RunKeeper is an application that allows gym-goers to track their workout routines! They give you foursquare badges for doing 3 or 5 different fitness activities on the app, for running 5 kilometers, and for running a marathon! Most recently, FitBit teamed up with foursquare to offer its foursquare-using customers a badge when they take 20,000 or more steps in a day and when they reach a total of 1,000 logged miles!
On top of all of this, some local gyms and national fitness brands are turning to foursquare to offer unique deals for their foursquare customers! Earlier this year on Foursquare Day, LA Fitness offered some unique specials to its members and their non-member foursquare friends! They even rewarded the venue mayor at their gym locations with great swag. All in all, there are numerous ways brands, foursquare partners, and the foursquare app/network itself encourages you to stay fit and have fun with it. So, what are you waiting for? Get to the gym and earn a few badges while you get in the best shape of your life! I look forward to seeing you there!
It’s November. Fall is here, Halloween decorations are being put away and turkeys everywhere are starting to get nervous. It’s also time for men around the world to start growing a mustache for charity. It’s time for Movember. Movember is an event that takes place during the month of November and was created to raise awareness and funds for men’s health.
It’s not too late to get involved, check out http://movember.com for details- you can grow a mustache (or “mo”) on your own, join a team of stache growing folks (either as a mo grower, as a supporter or as a “mo-sista”) and, most importantly, support these brave men by sponsoring their mustache growing efforts through charitable donations to Movember in the name of their mo. Donations to Movember benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.
If you’re reading this you probably not only appreciate the idea of growing mustaches for charity, but you probably also like foursquare. Here’s how all these things can come together for awesome: Checkin for charity. It’s a fantastic way to use foursquare to help raise money for charities like Movember. Last year Portsmouth Foursquare was able to raise over $1,800 for Movember with just two checkin for charity events.
This is how checkin for charity works: for a specific tweetup/party/event simply ask individuals and businesses (in advance) to pledge money for every person who checks in at the event on foursquare. Cap the total number of checkins counted at a certain number (e.g. 50) so that people who pledge can know what their maximum pledge could be. In terms of how much to pledge any amount is fine, but typically individuals pledge anywhere from $0.25-$2 per checkin and businesses pledge anywhere from $2-$10 per checkin.
During the event track the total number of people who checkin at the venue where the event is held using the foursquare app or website. Be sure to let people know during the event to check in and be prepared to sign new people up with foursquare so they can checkin too. After the event publish the numbers, thank all the donors and let them know how to make their donations (and what their final total added up to). Then pat yourself on the back and high five the nearest mo-growing individual or mo-sista for a job well done.
So, are you convinced? Ready to grow a mo and/or support a mo grower or mo-sista for charity? Want to throw your own checkin for charity event? It doesn’t have to be limited to Movember, go wild with the idea! Be sure to let us know in the comments if you plan to do this and especially let us know if you have any questions so we can help you with your own checkin for charity event!