Experience Points This week is Social Media Week and there’s a heavy focus on cause-related activism and social good. However, when we arrived yesterday at the San Francisco Food Bank, organizer Jeremy Toeman of Stage 2 Consulting pointed out, “They can get 250 people to a demo night, but we can only get 3 of 7 who committed to show up to volunteer for 3 hours.” Jeremy suggested that there should be a Foursquare for social activism. I was thinking about it last night and if Foursquare itself decided to award more points for being on-site at a 401c3 charity then at a bar or restaurant, then perhaps the leader board would be a little more meaningful. In the past I’ve written about the Foursquare for Charity pilot project but on second look I feel like this is a bit of a money grab from sponsors. By awarding more points for volunteering and even for fair trade businesses the game mechanics would remain fun, but it would alter the value system.
