ISOJ 2011

1. Tim Currie
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism
University of King’s College
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Experiments in Location-Based Content:
A Case Study of Postmedia’s Use of
Foursquare

2. Foursquare
 Social network
 6.5 million users
 Smartphone app tied to
GPS
 Users leave tips at a
location
 Users can indicate they
have “done” tips
 Game-like experience
2/7

3. The Study
 Interviews with editors placing editorial content as
tips
 3 Postmedia newspapers: National Post,
Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun
 RQ1: What criteria have editors used to select
content for Foursquare?
 RQ2: How have the editors produced this
content?
 Theory: Gatekeeping 3/7

4. Uses
Q: What content was
successful?
1. Film festival guide
2. Restaurant review
3. Opinion piece
4/7

5. Findings
 Q: How would you characterize the editorial
content
you place in Foursquare? “Not hard-core news”
“Evergreen”
“Feature-y”
“Useful to people
over a longer period
of time”
“Opinion”
5/7

6. Findings
Newspaper content placed in Foursquare was:
 An opinion, review, guide or first-person account
 Described with the goal of inspiring action
 Timeless — or about an event of 2+ days
 About a specific location or an activity done at a
specific type of location
 Placed at a location where people gather socially
6/7

7. Implications
 News on mobile devices is the future
 Foursquare is just one of many distribution
channels
 Content tied to social nature of the tool
7/7