Credit: Fast Company

Last year only “tweetups” could do this.  A social network that would bring people together to meet each other in person.  I did meet people via twitter, but one on one, not an actual party.  Yesterday morning, I was reminded that it was four square day, as some kids in Tampa last month saw the opportunity of creating a buzz around the math of the calendar, foursquare = 4/16.

I was working yesterday, but did learn of a meetup that was happening a few blocks away at a prominent digital agency, 360i.  The purpose of that get together was to earn a “swarm badge”, earned when at least 50 people check via foursquare at the same location.  So since it was so close, a chance to meet David Berkowitz, and just experience one of these meetups, I made the two block trek.  My colleague Michael Stearne joined me.  Turns out that we were the only outsiders as we kind of “crashed” the get together.  I did alert them that their foursquare meetup was on the foursquare blog.  They were polite and hosted us as we lounged in their “tweetie bar” sipping on some beer.  Thanks 360i for hosting us, even if it was unexpected. 

I contemplated about going to the official foursquare party later that night, which happened to be where I grew up in the Lower East Side, the Rivington Hotel to be exact.  I ended up not going, and after reading the blow below, Im glad I didnt as people were being turned away.  Even Digg founder Kevin Rose had trouble getting in!  No wonder Dennis is not able to return my request for an interview.

The excerpt below says it all when it comes to the mainstream understanding of these online social driven meetups.

“The only people dancing are two girls near the wall. And they’re going at it with reckless abandon. It turns out they’re crashers who have no clue what Foursquare is. “Hang on,” one says after hearing an explanation of the smartphone app that uses GPS to reward people for reporting their locations — checking in — with freebies, boy scout-style virtual badges, or titles such as “mayor.” “So no one here knows each other, but they came here because they all have an iPhone app?” She asks. Exactly.”

Oh, only 116 of the 500 or so people actually checked in, a few were checkins at Gowalla. 

Read the full blog post here, from Fast Company

In case you missed it, I was a guest on Larry Sharpe’s show on Ivory Tower Radio on Jan. 22nd.

Click Here to Listen Now!

Show Synopsis:

Allocution: Gaining an Audience via Social Media and the Web!
Larry explains how networking is farming and not hunting. He’ll show you some effective tactics for long term success. He discusses specific ways to use the web for follow up and how to get someone to be a referral and/or reference source. I comment on building your audience online. We also take calls and emails on the subject, so listen now!

If you are in a small business owner, in a sales position, network at all in NYC, you probably know Larry Sharpe.  Larry is a dynamic sales instructor, speaker, trainer, etc.  He also is a host to Ivory Tower Radio, which is a weekly internet radio show on Fridays at noon.  I’ve heard his past shows, and he delivers relevant, value added content on a consistent basis.  He keeps it fresh, and brings guests from all types of industries.   Its truly an honor to be a guest on the show.  We will be speaking about growing your audience on the web.  So click here at noon and tune in!

Another success story using LinkedIn, if you remember my first post, Kate Edwards met with a business that was searching on LinkedIn for a restaurant consultant.    How about another industry? Enter Colin Wheeler…

Colin offers a variety of insurances for businesses and individuals, backed by one of the most reliable insurance companies, All State.   He sent me this email via LinkedIn sharing his recent success.

Colin, thanks for sharing your success story on LinkedIn!

Here is a short LinkedIn video tip on how to effectively use your professional headline in your LinkedIn profile.  The professional headline is limited to 120 characters, but is a powerful tool to draw potential connections to view your profile as it shows up on search results on LinkedIn and Google.

Another benefit of tweaking your professional headline is that it is an keyword rich ingredient in how LinkedIn organizes their search results making your profile potentially optimized for keywords that reflect your services.