Unless you have been stuck in a closet or living in a cave for the past few months, you’ve most likely seen the new social media sensation, Foursquare, somewhere in your twitter or facebook stream. No longer your average sidewalk kid’s game, Foursquare (or four square or 4square or 4 sq or 4²) is a location based phone app that combines gaming, friend stalking, and coupons all into one!

This small tech startup which was only a twinkle in co-founder’s Dennis Crowley‘s eyes a year ago, was a smashing success at SXSW where they managed to sign up over 100,000 people in a matter of a week using creative, and slightly awesome, guerrilla marketing techniques. In fact, the user base has grown leaps and bounds since then, and is now teetering on 1 million users:

But enough ABOUT foursquare, what you’re waiting to hear about (I’m sure), is how a day dedicated entirely to Foursquare and social media came about, and the amazing activities that ensued. The genius behind this social madness? Well you might be surprised to know that this entire day of social media celebration was not, in fact, concocted by the @foursquare team. It was actually started in Tampa by Nate Bowilla-Warford, a long time dabbler of social media, who figured out that April 16th fit perfectly as 4sqday [for all of you non-math majors out there, 4² =16, therefore the logical conclusion of the fourth month, April, and the 16th day.]

Long story short, after no response from pleading attempts for a 4 square day badge, a group of people decided to run a fast spreading grassroots movement to declare a national social media celebration day!  I, personally, only found out about Foursquare day at a local Barcamp event a week before it was set to happen. I was very excited, but also let down that I would have to drive to Tampa to partake in the festivities (I’m located in Orlando – a good 1.5 drive.) Once I found out that Foursquare headquarters caught word and scrambled to throw together an epic party, I knew I wanted to head into NYC to join in… So I bought a plane ticket the day before and headed on up to the Big Apple!

In the end, over 150+ cities AROUND THE WORLD celebrated in masses by swarming in set locations, checking-in, tweeting out #4sqday and receiving badges. Even though pictures posted from other gatherings seemed like everyone had a good time, I remain 100% confident that the best party took place with the founding crew members and hometown users in the Penthouse Suite at Hotel Rivington. Here are some of the pictures from the night:

In order to get into the party, 4sq employees found a way to inform users to check into a secret location beforehand to get wristbands into the penthouse. Those guys are constantly coming up with new ways to interact with their users!

Good thing we already had our wristbands

The mood was set

Looky who we found - Thanks Dennis for a great time!

I’m glad the douche bags decided to brand themselves beforehand, so I didn’t have to

On the 1s and 2s

Rain couldn't spoil the view from the Penthouse!

AND OF COURSE - Hot tub business deals were made!

‘

The new addition to my badge family

It was a blast and I hope to see you all checking in for Foursquare day 2011! Here’s to a SUPER SWARM next year!!!

I LIKE this!

Let’s face it, when it comes to add-ons and plugins and toolbars, as site and blog owners we are inundated with choices of what is important and what is just a distraction. I find myself being taken in by gadgets and widgets from other sites- commentluv, sexy bookmarks, follow me this, or fan me that… when does it all end?

It can be confusing and overwhelming choosing the right CTAs or calls-to-action for a website, so why would you want someone to ‘Like’ your post instead of “Tweet this” or “Digg it”? Well, I know not all sites are built alike, but when it comes to blogging in general, the more eyes on a post or page, the better. And in the end, Facebook has the numbers to crush  Twitter, Digg, and thousands of other social sites combined.

So it comes down to the ultimate question: “Why is it important for me to add the Facebook Like button to my site? I mean, I already have an option for people to share with facebook… Why add another button?”

Here’s why Like might win out for your site over other popular options:

• People will click it!

Sure, people may use that sexy bookmark widget a few times, they may even click on tweetmeme, but there is NO DOUBT they will click on “Like”. Why? Because Facebook has found a way to reduce user friction. There is no signing in (most users are already signed in to their facebook accounts), no redrafting why you are sharing, no filling out lines of information about your name, your email, your website, the name of your first born, etc. It’s simple, easy, and they know what it means, and if they get a kick out of it, they are bound to ‘Like’ it.

• People are familiar with “Like”

It was recently estimated that there are over 350 million registered Facebook Users and growing, and almost half the users log-in daily! That’s 175 million people that are potential ‘likers’ or friends of ‘likers’ (-Techcrunch). That’s over 350 million users that are already familiar with what “Like” means, and actually use it. In fact, Facebook recently changed “Become a fan” to like because:

” people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday.” -Facebook

So basically, Facebook already did the leg work and research for you, all you have to do is post something likeable

• Peer Pressure

I mean, all the cool kids are doing it… OK, I don’t have hard statistics for you, but I know when my friends start liking things, I feel more compelled to like it myself. What’s great about the new button is seeing familiar faces associated with liking a link. It’s almost like a group mentality, everyone wants to be apart of it:

• Grow your audience

Like I said before, 350 million people! Anyone signed up can like your post and it publishes straight to their wall, which goes into their friend’s feeds. This means their friends can see what they like, click on it, like it themselves, and that goes into THEIR friend’s stream and so on and so forth. The possibilities are exponential…

• Cut out your Fanpage

OMG WHAT? Did I just say that?? Well, if you’re anything like me, you might be lost in the world of a million accounts, posting and commenting back and forth, keeping up with stats on groups, pages, posts, twitter, digg, and everything in between. We know we need to do it in order to reach different audiences, but we also wish there was a way to mash them all together so as to have better control of it all. Well folks, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a fanpage,but if you’re not a serial poster or just do not have time to grow and monitor your fanpage, the new FB like button is really a way to cut out the fan page altogether.

I’ll reiterate it again, I’m not saying you should not create a fanpage, I’m just saying, if you are notorious for neglecting them, perhaps you can use this Like button as a substitute to get others to share your work. In the end, people are still commenting and liking the link in their streams, which is the point all along.

• It’s  easy to do – I mean come on, I did it…

For Word Press users, you can choose from a dozen plugins that already do the work for you- just activate and go. I decided to use “Kouguu FB Like”, and it has a really customize area if you prefer to put the button before or after a post, darker or lighter colors, or want to change ‘like’ to the recommend option. If you aren’t a WP user, check out Lyndon’s post on How to Add a Facebook Like Button to a Webpage.

After all that being said, the Like button is not a miracle cure for everything. It cannot, in fact, make your post more likeable or viral. That is up to you and the value of the content.  However, if you have to choose between one more fancy gadget, the Facebook Like button should be a heavy contender.

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Notes: Yes I did in fact just use the word ‘Like’ 29 times in this post, and No I’m not a Valley Girl.

I’m absolutely disgusted to see what Experian (owner of Lower My Bills and their ridiculous dancing ads) has done to ClassesUSA since buying them out. They have managed to take a decent educational directory and turn it into one big horse and pony show, all the while ruining it’s credibility and also the quality of lead flow. I have worked with ClassesUSA on a client level for the past 2 years, and have seen a transformation into what can only be the unnecessary demise of a once great money making portal.

Not only have I seen an ungodly amount of the following poorly composed ads, but I have YET to find any internet advertising of theirs that is appropriate and/or relevant for their target audience.

Case in point, the set of dancing ads:

I'm not sure what Santa has to do with going to school...

This one the woman gets caught on video dancing

Don’t forget the tatoo ad:

Oh yea, totally relevant

This guy reminds me of Zach Morris. He is probably thumbs upping that MILF in the corner that is supposed to see this ad:

He looks like he says Dude a lot

The grumpy old man ad:

I'm not sure if he's angry or constipated?

And my favorite #fail of ALL TIME, the shirtless Jesus Obama ad (speaks for itself doesn’t it?)

Caveman or Jesus? You tell me...

I guess that leaves me with one last question… Would firing the Director of Marketing for Experian or ClassesUSA do any good, or is this train wreck too late to stop?

I think I’ll just sit back and watch it burn… I mean really, WTF ClassesUSA?