Nerd alert: this post won't make sense to many of you. But it's an interesting account of the activities at the Sandbar last Thursday night when the Free State Social community tweetup took place.
Foursquare is a location-based social networking site. Users "check in" when they go places, and their friends can see where they are. The game aspect is one appeal of Foursquare- check in's accumulate points, which in turn allow the user to earn different badges. One of these badges is the elusive "Swarm Badge," which can only be earned if 50 or more people are checked into the same place at the same time. It's like a Foursquare flash mob.
Our neighbors in Kansas City have organized several events to try to earn the Swarm Badge, and each time they've fallen short by just a few people. Lots of people thought the Swarm Badge would be earned at the Free State Social conference last week- since many of the attendees use Foursquare and 300 people were at the conference- but it didn't happen.
I never thought we'd earn the Swarm Badge at Thursday night's community tweetup- after all, if we didn't get it at the conference where all the attendees were in the same place at the same time, it didn't seem possible to unlock it at the tweetup, where participants were spread all over downtown Lawrence in a million different places.
However, people kept coming to the Sandbar on Thursday night, and our friend Jacinta sent the first tweet about swarming the Sandbar. More tweets and retweets followed, and more people kept coming to the bar and checking in. Suddenly we had 16 people checked in, then 33, then 45. The Swarm Badge seemed like a real possibility. Even people who don't normally use Foursquare checked in to help with the cause, and at 9:50 p.m. the 50th person checked in and unlocked the Swarm Badge for everyone:
A funny irony- our legal capacity is 49, and 50 people are needed to unlock the badge. There may have been more than 49 people in the bar, but the patio was busier than it's ever been too.
I think we're the first place to unlock the Swarm Badge in Kansas, from what I've heard. This might seem trivial, and perhaps it is. But it was a fun activity on Thursday- it encouraged people to network with new people and gave them something to talk about, and it helped add to the sense of community that was already created by Free State Social.
And, of course, it was great for business on Thursday. I saw several tweets from people who only came to the Sandbar so they could check in and try to get the Swarm Badge- I don't know if they bought anything or not, but at least they were exposed to our crazy little world for a little bit of time. Maybe they'll be back sometime.
If you were there, leave a comment and let us know what you thought. If you want to write a guest post about your experience at the Sandbar, we're up for that too.
Thanks for being one of the bars that hosted the Free State Social tweet up Thursday night. A lot of folks that couldn’t make it to the conference drove over to Lawrence for the tweetup. It was fantastic to see so many Kansas City Social Media Club peeps in Lawrence. We all got to connect over cocktails and catch up conversation in many fun bars including the Sandbar.
It was my first adventure into The Sandbar and it blew away my expectations. I have Ramsey (@ramseym) to thank for buying Naomi Shapiro (@superdumb) me the Mermaid shots and all the fun that comes in tow with it! We had a blast swarmin’ at the Sandbar!
Here’s a video of the *entire* Chris Brogan/Shawna Coronado/Sarah Evans Hurricane extravaganza. It’s, uh, pretty long:
I’ll post some clips from my own personal Hurricane experience (with the lovely @zenaweist) when I write about FSS later this week. They are thankfully more brief!
Thank you both!
So glad you made it to the Sandbar and got to experience the hurricane in all its glory.
We’re going to try to create some type of digital scrapbook with pictures & video clips & comments from the Sandbar tweetup. Thanks for the video link!
Look for more posts from us this week!
Debbi – thank you for representing @thesandbar online! I did not realize you were at @freestatesocial, but it was your friendly tweets that lured me into making sure that I visited @thesandbar and tried the (ingenious) idea of a “Twitter” Fail Whale Shot. And so, I have a few tweets that will forever be remembered, like http://twitter.com/webbiegirl/status/13106609311 and http://twitter.com/webbiegirl/status/13101802956 And while the ‘social media experience’ is not all about having a good time at the end of a great day, but it sure did top it off! Thanks 😀 – @webbiegirl
-tags: @chrisbrogan @tugonme @johndecesaro @toddramsey @susandyer @jenniferlkeller @ictguy76 @sheasylvia @debjohanning @jdpatton
Thanks! Love the tweets from Thursday night, it was certainly a great time and a good way to finally connect with and meet people offline.
Let’s do it again!
Here’s my recap post: http://tinyurl.com/2e2qlc3
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing!