Foursquare explodes in Sydney as first five city tweetup hits Australia
Australia’s social media scene passed through two milestones last night with Foursquare’s first Australian swarm, and a first five-city simultaneous tweetup.
The swarm – where more than 50 Foursquare users check in at the same venue simultaneously – took place at last night’s first meeting of Digital Citizens in Sydney.
Foursquare is a mobile website which combines local information, friends’ recommendations and a game where users battle each week to check in most often at a given venue. Foursquare’s usage has grown dramatically since the beginning of the year.
Because of its ability to potentially attract consumers to commercial venues such as coffee shops, restaurants and stores, it has major potential for marketers.
Meanwhile, noodle chain Wagamama is claiming Australia’s first five city tweetup last night.
More than 250 people took part in the event at Wagamama restaurants in Sydney (pictured), Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra.
Wagamama CEO Mark Rowland, who uses the company’s Twitter profile to talk to followers directly, said: “Based on the success of this event, we’ll definitely be holding more tweetups in the future.”
Indeed, last night was a big one for social media, with Social Media Women holding its first meeting in Sydney too.
Meanwhile, later this month, on March 25, the Sydney leg of the global Twestival takes place, in which social media users attempt to have a social impact, raising money for the charity Concern Worldwide.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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The Foursquare link is dead.
Probably want to head to http://www.foursquare.com
Wouldn’t mind knowing the user number comparison, in Australia, between Foursquare and Gowala [ http://www.gowala.com ]. As two of the top location based services out it be interesting to know who wins the battle.
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loved the way you dropped the bomb at the end Tim..almost snuffed out Kochie’s perkiness..
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[ EDIT ]
Gowalla and http://www.gowalla.com
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*wonders why it always has to be a battle*
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Ah glad you’ve provided that link I just turned on the box to see you drop the RobMe bomb and knew I’d missed something about Foursquare.
Nice segment.
I see SXSW did a cool thing with Foursquare and Gowalla have gotten in on the act too. Hope it gathers momentum here too.
With Hootsuite teaming up with Foursquare and Myspace it should get interesting.
Perhaps time to invest in home and contents insurance
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The applications are obvious of course…its just so…well, uncool when the early adopters use it isn’t it?
FB: Should i eat this biscuit or should I put this piece of paper in the bin?
Twitter: Just put the paper in the bin, biscuit was stale.
Foursquare: Just arrived at the bin. Now back at the fridge.
*Yawn*
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Sydney Twestival is still looking for sponsorship – contact details are on the http://sydney.twestival.com website if your company has some cash to flash.
Concern International really is an amazing cause and well worth your support.
Given the huge turnout at social media based events in Australia, I’d hope this year’s Sydney Twestival would give the London and NYC events a run for their money.
Twestival is at the Australian Centre for Photography on Thursday 25th March this year..I believe tickets are going on sale shortly.
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The Wagamama events were a failure for “Tweet-ups”.
Yes, for social media it probably was a success however the majority of people who attended were not Twitterers!
Sign-ups for the event was slow until the website OzBargain advertised the events and then all seats were booked up within hours. After talking to a bunch of people at one of the meets, it seemed apparent that a lot of them don’t even know what Twitter was.
Next time Wagamama should do its homework for the social network its trying to use because it may bite them on the ass. Luckily for them, this time it didn’t.
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Thanks for that PJ – that link has now been updated.
Cheers,
Camille – Mumbrella
Howay Camille
You’re still pointing to the non-existent .com.au address for Foursquare in the story. I did suggest to them they should take on an Aussie presence. I dunno if Seggr are acting for them here, at least they are pushing on the site.
Good luck to Mark. It was an interesting concept, but bloody glad to be part of the Super Swarm at the Burdekin last night.
not frank
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Ta,
Now updated (again!) Sometimes it’s a wonder we can find our way to work of a morning.
Third time lucky I hope…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Great interview, Tim.
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I know it’s been out there for a while now…but just checked out your Sunrise segement Tim. That’s great to have scored that. Nice one!!
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