Broadway Using Foursquare to its Advantage

With new social network sites popping up everywhere, there has to be something special for one to catch on and gain national attention. Foursquare, a social networking gps game, has been slowly catching on since it started in 2009. For those who have not heard of it, foursquare uses the gps in your smart phone to locate where you are. When you log into foursquare.com it pinpoints your position and the venue you are at pops up on your screen. You then check in by pushing a button which lets all your foursquare friends know where you are at that moment. The game part of the site includes gaining badges for visiting the most places in a certain area, or becoming "mayor" of a venue for checking in the most times, etc.

The below article talks about how Broadway is using foursquare differently. Instead of having patrons check in at the theatre, they allow patrons to check in at the show itself. This creates buzz around individual shows. Once someone checks in at a show, foursquare broadcasts that person's location to all their foursquare friends, letting them know that their friend is watching "Wicked" that evening instead of just saying they are at the Gershwin Theatre. Smart way for theatres to promote their shows via word of mouth without doing anything but listing them on foursquare.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-sims/broadway-marketing-ready_b_565892.html