4sqDay philippines 2018

last february 20, a Superuser Level 9 (SU9) from sweden friended me in swarm.
nine days later, i am the organizer of the official Foursquare Day event in the philippines for 2018 (#4sqDayPH2018).  aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!  :O

[there are 10 superuser levels in foursquare.  the highest is 10.  i am a 3.  no, it's not about how often you use the app.  it's about how you contribute to enriching the user experience.  a very simple example would be editing venues  ->  making sure the addresses are correct, merging duplicates.]

background:

foursquare day / 4SQ Day is april 16.
4, april.
4², 16.

foursquare day (#4sqday) is not an initiative of the company.
it was started by tampa, florida users in 2010
from an idea by nate bonilla-warford, an optometrist from the place.
foursquare recognized the user-initiative and officially declared 4/16 as 4SQ Day in a tweet on march 26, 2010.

the original foursquare app was launched in march 2009
and spun off swarm in may 2014.

basically
foursquare city guide helps you find places
while
foursquare swarm lets you do a virtual check-in when you visit those places.
foursquare is a directory/guide.
swarm is a gamified record/lifelog.
before swarm, you also did the check-ins in foursquare.

more than 105 million venues have been mapped around the world.  foursquare / swarm users can add venues and then do a check-in.

the foursquare website currently reports more than 50 million users for foursquare city guide and foursquare swarm per month.
they surpassed 12 billion check-ins in august 2017.
record high is over 9 million check-ins in a single day.

i've been using foursquare/swarm since september 2010.  i don't really play online/network/virtual/augmented reality games but for some reason this reality-based one was giving me so much joy it's embarrassing at times.  i'd be out by myself, i'd check in and unexpectedly unlock a badge and i'd be so very happy i'd be beaming like silly.

people would ask me what you get from it.
my standard reply is that
here in the philippines, it's just the virtual badges/stickers, mayorships, leaderboard rankings and, of course, the real-life lifelog.
in other countries, you could get discounts and freebies as well.
[-  "You become the Mayor of a place by checking in more than anyone else in the last 30 days.  Only 1 check-in per day counts and ties go to the reigning Mayor."

-  the leaderboard ranks a user and his swarm friends based on the quantity and quality of  their check-ins.

the more check-ins you have, the more points you get, the higher you go in the leaderboard.

you get bonus points for becoming mayor or retaining mayorship of a place, sustaining or breaking type of venue check-in streaks (e.g., 4 straght weeks at the mall), being one of the first 50 to ever check in at a venue, checking in with a friend, etc.

the leaderboard refreshes each week, i.e, everyone's back to zero.]

i used to go to swarm just to check in.  when the SU9 became my friend, i had to go there to read messages as well.  we were having exchanges about 4sqDay and, when one of his messages remained unread for a day or two maybe, he posted a comment on one of my check-ins, visible to my other friends, telling me to read my swarm messages, imagine!  waaaahhhhh!!!  i don't even read my e-mail and facebook messages.  swarm i have to?  nyahaha...  demanding!  (peace, vän!)

you see i mentioned to the SU9 that i've been wanting to unlock a Swarm badge for years.  you get it when there are 50+ people checked in at a venue.  i said i wasn't able to go to the big 4sqDay celebration in the philippines in 2013 but i did ask a friend to attend instead.  (i stil have the 4sqDay Explore Water Bottle swag he got that time.  he was sweet enough to give it to me.)  i said i hope there'd be an event this year and if there's none maybe i could just arrange one myself.  i was half-kidding about the latter part.

guess what, the SU9 said he'll check if there is one.  and when there was none, he sent me a form for those who want to help host an event for Foursquare Day.  the form said one event per country!

eh?!  i had in mind only a simple meetup without having to go through foursquare headquarters in new york.  and i wasn't thinking of carrying the name of the philippines at all!

well, he nudged/pushed me to take the initiative to arrange an event and gave me encouragement for every hassle that i raised.

hmmm...  i believe everything happens for a reason.  we became friends at this time for something.  maybe that something is to again have a Foursquare Day celebration in the philippines.

i decided not to overthink things and just focus on the desired results:
a Swarm badge for me finally
and
an official 4SQDay event for the philippines as well.
hello, adam smith  ->  invisible hand.
i therefore submitted the form to foursquare.

ta-daaannnn!!!  following day, march 1, i already received an e-mail from the Director of Community + Engagement at foursquare addressed to SU organizers for 4sqDay!  he was asking for something that had a march 2 deadline.  wahaha...  suddenly my working days flashed in my mind  ->  everything was due yesterday!  this one was sooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier though.  i replied right away.  no sweat, hah!

i thought araneta center would be a good place for the meetup/celebration because two train lines, the LRT and the MRT, have stations there.

i had a handful of venues within araneta center in mind but after considering price, accessibility and probable availability in april without early reservation, settled on this one that not just passed the foregoing considerations but also would have spillover space in case a lot of people showed up.

since april 16, 2018 is a monday, i thought 6:30 p.m. would be a good start to accommodate not just students but also those coming from the office as well.

for the meantime, what i intend to do is treat the first 20 (4 + 16, get it?) ordinary users at the venue to pizza and a glass of drink.
the first 4 get two slices each.
the next 16, just one slice each.
superusers and the rest pay for their own, wahaha...
(ei, i'm retired...  i'm all the more choosy now about my expenses.  i was telling the SU9, i would rather treat streetchildren to pizza than swarmers who i think could afford to buy their own.)

i have in mind one hour:
6:30 p.m. registration and pizza
7:00 p.m. group check in
7:05 p.m. raffle and a game
7:25 p.m. group picture

short but sweet.

target is 50 attendees checking in together to unlock the Swarm badge.  you can invite even your non-swarmer friends and we'll tell them about foursquare and swarm.  if they're interested, we'll help them to get started.  actually you can tell them and help them to get started yourself : )

other countries have from 5 to 100 expected attendees.  when i saw that, i thought it would be nice to go for 100+ and top the list.  leaderboard.  friendly competition, hehe.

we could raise the target but first i'm going to explore discounts and sponsorships.  i don't want people arriving at the venue after having ridden jampacked trains or enduring awful traffic only to have to pay for their own food.  they could check in anywhere.  i don't have to incovenience them.

please fill out the form below if you will attend the official 4sqDay philippine event on april 16, 2018:

https://goo.gl/forms/vZPjrw2X5Cy0ojzi1

i'm winging this one.  i pray it will be fly.

to my fellow philippine SUs, ' hope to get you on board so we can come up with a better celebration.  nothing is cast in stone as yet.  i'm just waiting for some event-related thing right now before i get in touch with you.

to the SU9 from sweden, a special shoutout:  tack ska du ha.

#4SQDay #4sqDayPH 2018 coming up...

let's...  check...  in!  : )

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