There's no doubt that location-based platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla are the hot new social networks and are rapidly building a following.

For those of use in the advocacy and public affairs community, the main question about Foursquare is the same one we were asking about Twitter and Facebook a few years ago: How does this change the game for advocacy campaigns?

In terms of advancing social advocacy, Foursquare looks to have even more potential. There are a number of important new capabilities that Foursquare ties together to bring new opportunities to the social media space that could be provide new opportunities for creative advocacy campaigns.

This workshop will give you insight on how to use these services as both a strategic communication service and mobilization platform. You will leave the session armed with ideas, tips and real world case studies on how to best use Foursquare and other geolocation networking tools to spark action on your cause or issue.

Specifically, we will cover:

• Ways to grow and expand your friend list
• Methods to increase the number of people exposed to your actions
• Strategic uses of “check-ins” by your activists
• How to integrate with other social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter
• Tips for adding recommendations to locations
• Ideas to reward “Mayors” and other loyal followers
• Leveraging paid advertising on location-based networks.

This session is sponsored by Beekeeper Group, a public affairs firm that is leading the industry towards a community-based, hive-driven approach. Your training will be conducted by:

Shana Glickfield, a leading communications and advocacy strategist, is a partner at Beekeeper Group. Shana works with a number of telecommunication clients and manages NextGenWeb.org, USTelecom’s multimedia website dedicated to exploring all of the innovative ways that broadband is improving our quality of life. Shana’s efforts on the project landed USTelecom, the broadband association, on the list of the Top 10 Organizations Using Social Media by Personal Democracy Forum.

Mike Panetta is an award winning public affairs campaign strategist who specializes in using the Internet and social media for creative issue advocacy and grassroots activism. Before becoming a Partner at Beekeeper Group, Mike was Vice President for Public Affairs and Emerging Media at Grassroots Enterprise where he managed a number of the firm’s non-profit, trade association, and political clients and led its embrace of new technology for political, marketing and advocacy purposes. His work has been recognized with top honors from the American Association of Political Consultants, the Public Affairs Council, and George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet.