When Chewbacca and I are in the binary system we always make it a point to swing over to Tatooine so we can stop off at Mos Eisley, our favorite pirate city.  We like Mos Eisley because we can get the power cores swapped out on the Millenium Falcon while we hang out at our favorite local pub Chalmun’s Cantina (often referred to as the Mos Eisley Cantina) all while staying off the Emperial radar.  Chewie pulled the Falcon into Docking Bay 94 and I promptly grabbed my phone and checked in on Foursquare…awesome…I was still mayor of the spaceport service center.  This scruffy looking space scoundrel has pwned Docking Bay 94 since I first created the venue back during the Galactic Civil War.  The best thing is, I get a 20% discount on spare motivator cables with my checkin and because I’m also the mayor the Millenium Falcon gets a free wash…and she is usually dirty so that really does come in handy.  I’m definitely glad Docking Bay 94 embraces the Foursquare special offer philosophies as I could just as easily have checked in at Docking Bay 93 (or any of the 362 docking bays here), but none of them offer any Foursquare promos.

Chewie and I shuffled on over to 3324 Outer Kerner Way to hit the Cantina for a couple drinks and to mingle with the other smugglers in order to learn some tips on new routes to take or maybe even pick up an odd job or two.  We sat down and ordered drinks so I checked in on Foursquare.  Turns out Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes are the mayor here at Chalmun’s…yep that’s the house band.  Those guys are here every day!  How am I supposed to compete with that?  Foursquare is supposed to be a game that encourages customers to explore areas and to want to revisit places to try and earn rewards (whether they be promos or just bragging rights on mayorship). 

If you have a business where you have customers visit you on your premise (retail, restaurants, etc), then you should not allow employees or regular service staff to check in to your venue on Foursquare while they are there for work.  Businesses should want to keep Foursquare interactions with their customer base only.  Social Media Han Solo recommends these types of businesses create a separate venue where just employees can check in (restaurant for example can have an employee venue for the kitchen to accomplish this objective).  This will bring about comradery and a friendly competition that your employees can share together while allowing that same competition among your customers to occur at your main venue.  Obviously, office environments that are not visited by customers would not run into this issue and should encourage employee checkins at the office.

Stay classy out there space travelers.  You’re our only hope.