UM-Flint on Foursquare: Mission Accomplished

It wasn’t long ago that I recounted the often discouraging, if not confusing, work that had been done toward branding UM-Flint’s presence on Foursquare. Between August and December 2010, a UM-Flint Foursquare account was created, 18 UM-Flint venues were claimed, and a campus waiting-list form was submitted to Foursquare (twice). At the start of 2011, I was left wondering how long UM-Flint would be on this all-important waiting list, and what would happen next.

I almost couldn’t believe it when I received an email from Foursquare on January 12. It wasn’t just an auto-response telling me that our form had been received or that we should continue adding tips and information to our claimed venues. No. This email contained these very exciting words:

“So let’s get started…”

Attached was a form for me to complete that would provide the text and other specific information for UM-Flint’s very own branded page on Foursquare. Squeeeeee! Having made it this far, I wasted no time in compiling the information that was requested. Specifically:

• University page text
• University page header image
• Top three venues
• GPS coordinates

UM-Flint’s completed form and header image were submitted to Foursquare about a week later. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I’d get an update, or exactly what would happen next. Foursquare’s last email had left me with this cryptic message:

We will process these requests in the order in which they are received. But you can start building your presence on foursquare while we create your University Page. Once we build your university page, we will contact you via email with next steps!  (here’s a little secret, the more tips you’ve entered, the faster we can process your request – wink wink)

“Wink wink?” So clearly I was to start entering tips to the venues I’d claimed. Just to be sure I hadn’t missed anything in the first round of claims, I did some searching for additional UM-Flint venues. I found 24 more. And imagine my surprise when my bulk claim of those 24 venues was approved within hours. Hours! Things were definitely looking up.

I eagerly began updating UM-Flint’s venue information–updating addresses, merging duplicates, adding tips. I was so engrossed in this activity, in fact, that a pop-up email notification startled me.

Congratulations! Your university page is now live on foursquare.

There was more to the email, but this was all I had to read before forwarding the news of our success to the rest of University Relations. Exactly one day had passed since I’d emailed Foursquare the information for our page. I certainly never expected for such quick results.



Do you have ideas for tips to add to venues, or ways we can use Foursquare on campus? Connect with UM-Flint on Foursquare, take a look around, and let us know what you think.