On Friday I gave a presentation called Fostering Community with Social Media at the Midwest Newspaper Summit (put on by the fine folks at the Iowa Newspaper Association). The audience was a mix of journalists and editors from regional newspapers as well as college students excited to break into the media industry.

The journalism world (specifically newspapers) is currently in a state of flux, and many are wondering if anything will be left standing five years from now. Yes, media platforms and reading habits have evolved, but the point of my session was that community equals opportunity – advantages go to those who embrace technology shifts and understand how to operationalize social networks for their gain.

While most of the audience was there to learn, I did my fair share of learning from them, as well. The session allowed me to connect with smart people who are working on innovative things, right here in Iowa. Thomas Ritchie (Online Editor at the Sioux City Journal) has put a focus on harnessing the real-time web and live-blogging stories for his newspaper, and he’s achieved quite a bit of success from it. Steve Buttry, who blogs about the future of journalism and media, sat in the front row and asked all sorts of good questions. I was also impressed by many of the college students I met, who are eager to break into the industry and tear it up using their knowledge of self-publishing tools and networks.

I have lots of opinions on where this is all going, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. What are your thoughts on the future of newspapers and news media? Please chime in below.

February is shaping up to be a busy month, speaking-wise. Starting tonight, we’ve got 11 gigs in 28 days – now that’s a lot of talking!

Recently some of you have been asking about what events we’re participating in and where to find us, so we’ve posted a detailed list (ones that allow public registration) below. We’ll go ahead and throw March’s trip to Texas into the mix, as well. If you decide to venture out to any of these, please say hello and ask lots of questions. We’d love to meet you.

Midwest Newspaper Summit
Friday, February 5
Downtown Marriott Hotel, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Social Media – Fostering an Online Community Around Your Newspaper

Social Media and Health Care (Iowa Hospital Association)
Tuesday, February 9
Thompson Auditorium, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: An introduction to social media

A Journalist’s Guide to New Media (Drake University SJMC)
Saturday, February 13
Meredith Hall, Room 104, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Linking w/ potential employers, clients and professionals via social media tools

American Marketing Association, Iowa Chapter
Wednesday, February 17
Hilton Garden Inn, Johnston, Iowa
Topic: How LinkedIn are you?

EntreFest 2010
Friday, February 26
West Des Moines Marriott, West Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Using Facebook to build your business

South by Southwest Interactive 2010
Tuesday, March 16
Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas
Topic: The State of Music Blogs in 2010

Photo credit: visual_dichotomy via Flickr

We’re only one week into Foursquare being available here in Des Moines (and every city), and already I’m seeing a large volume of chatter from people who are confused by it, scared of it, dismissive of it and don’t see the value. This is a classic symptom of a “hot” social network.

In fact, many of these conversations are very, very familiar. We had the same ones about Twitter in early 2007 (I was one of those confused voices) until we each had our personal “a-ha” moments, and then we suddenly got it.

Last week I wrote about Foursquare’s potential for local businesses, but let’s step away from the biz angle for a moment and discuss the personal and social reasons behind why I use it. Please note: This is not a command that you must start using it, or that you should use it in a similar way. I’m writing this for the “I don’t get it” folks – those who are confused by the whole thing and want some clarification.

Broadcasting your current location

When you “check in” to a specific location on Foursquare, the application allows you to auto-broadcast your current location out to your social networks. One misconception about Foursquare is that this is all users will ever do, and the fear is that our friends’ Twitter feeds and Facebook updates will become an endless barrage of useless “I’m at Venue XYZ [LINK]“ updates. This is a legitimate concern, and it’s the reason why I turned off the auto-broadcast feature in my settings. I want to check in to locations to rack up points, compete with friends, and move up the Foursquare Leaderboard, but I’m assuming my Twitter followers don’t need to know about it every single time.

There are circumstances where I do want people to know where I’m at and what I’m doing. For instance, during last Friday’s Des Moines Tweetup I used Foursquare to announce that I was there. (This is something I would typically tweet about, anyway.) People were using it at the Central Iowa Bloggers meetup that same morning in a similar way, saying “Hey, I’m at this cool event, and you’re missing out if you’re not here.”

I left auto-broadcast switched on for announcing that I’ve become the Mayor of a venue. This is for bragging rights. I want people to know who I’ve dethroned. It’s part of the competition, part of the gimmick.

Handling friend requests

Right now there’s a lot of conversation surrounding this issue: “Who do I accept as my friend on Foursquare?” Social networks have forced humans to deal with all sorts of new social mores, and to further complicate things, our connection preferences in each network are going to be different. Bryan Person wrote a great post about his own selection filters, plus his readers’ perspectives. Here’s my rule: If I’ve actually met the person in real life, I’ll accept the request. Yes, in a few circumstances I’ve bent this rule both ways. This is similar to my Facebook filter (IRL connections only) but very different than my Twitter filter, where serendipity rules all.

Managing privacy

If you are legitimately concerned about privacy, you do two things: 1.) Avoid Foursquare altogether, or 2.) Use the settings and filters described above to control updates and select who gets into your network. It’s your world.

So, that’s how I’m currently use it, and why. What’s been your personal Foursquare experience thus far? Please chime in below!

Image credit: dpstyles via Flickr

Huzzah! The location-based social network Foursquare is now available to everyone, everywhere.

I’ve already declared my inevitable Mayorship of the East Village Jimmy John’s. (Who’s going to challenge me?) Others have made their claim on Mars Cafe, which will certainly be a hot spot. I also expect the tweets and check-ins to be flying from Raccoon River during Friday night’s Des Moines Tweetup.

Oh, if you don’t know what Foursquare is yet, please refer back to this earlier post.

So, what do local businesses need to be aware of? First, your customers are going to broadcast that they’re at your location / store / venue. Be ready for this by being findable. Go ahead and add your business as a location before someone does it for you. Earlier I used Foursquare’s web interface to add Lava Row. Just click on “add things” in the top navigation menu and then click “add a new venue.” Fill out the information including address, cross streets, etc., and you’re good to go!

Foursquare is emerging as a platform for businesses to reward their Mayors (people who “check in” the most often) with special deals and discounts – loyalty-based marketing at it’s finest. For more information about Foursquare’s beta advertising platform, check out Foursquare for Businesses.

How will you get creative with your business on Foursquare?

This morning we said thanks for a great 2009 by buying coffee for anyone who showed up at Mars Cafe between 8:00 and 9:00. What a great way to close out the year — a cozy café, hot coffee and good friends. Thanks to everyone who dropped by! Below are some video highlights.

Stop by Mars Cafe tomorrow (Tuesday) morning between 8:00-9:00 and we’ll buy you a cup of coffee. It’s our way of saying thanks for being an amazing community and doing your part to foster its growth in 2009. For those of you trudging to the office or mall tomorrow, hopefully this will start your Tuesday off the right way — warm and highly-caffeinated.

So drop in, say hello, ask us for the secret password, and your coffee drink is on us. Happy holidays, and we’ll see you at Mars!

Photo by clspeace via Flickr.

On November 19th, Foursquare (a location-based social network) announced it was adding 50 more cities to the service. Unfortunately, Des Moines wasn’t on the list. Thus, it’s time to make some noise.

Here’s what we’d like you to do. Create a video response to my YouTube video above, telling the Foursquare team exactly why you want the service to come to DeMo. Be sure to shoot it inside or outside your favorite coffee shop, restaurant, bar, office, etc. (whatever venue you know you’ll be the Mayor of).

If our community creates enough videos, we might just get noticed. Don’t forget to include the words Foursquare and Des Moines in the YouTube tags and title. Visit YouTube’s help section if you need assistance posting your video response. A direct link to my video can be found here.

For those readers asking “Huh? What’s this Foursquare thing you speak of?” — it is a location-based social network that you use to “check in” at your favorite haunts (with your GPS-enabled mobile device) and compete with your friends over who visits more often. If that’s you, you become the “Mayor” of that location. Foursquare’s creators refer to the service as 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide and 20% nightlife game.

Currently I’m the Mayor of a martini bar in Indianapolis, but I’d much rather be battling my Des Moines friends over Mayorship of venues here in town. So let’s get started on those videos, folks. If you’re too shy to create one, you can demand Des Moines as a Foursquare city using this form.

Lights, camera — action!