[This story appears on page 5 in the August 5th print edition of Ace. The Best of Lex ballot is also in the August 5 print edition.]
The first entry in the 2010 annual Best of Lex Ballot is “Best Horsemania Horse.” You can write in your vote as always (follow the rules please: 50 percent of your ballot must be completed to be counted, and if you write in Coach Cal in every single category — including Best Taqueria — your ballot will be ruthlessly disqualified). Pick up your ballot in this Thursday’s August 5th issue. (Mail it in by August 27.)
This year, in this category, you can also vote for your favorite horse on Foursquare.
You followed us on Twitter. You fanned us on Facebook. Way back when nobody had heard of either.
But Ace has always been the first to embrace social media in Lexington. Remember the “Why Twitter Matters?” cover?
Now we’ve devised a Best of Lex Game for you to play as we ask you to join us on Foursquare, a location-based
check in service that’s named after – the FUN GAME played with nothing more than a bouncing ball and a
chalk quadrant outline.
While the coin of the Twitter realm is the “Tweet,” and on Facebook it’s the “Status,” on Foursquare it’s
the “Check In.” On Foursquare, you and your cellphone are the bouncing ball and the whole big GPS coded mapped out world is the chalk outline.
You sign up for Foursquare at www.foursquare.com and then you use your smartphone to “Check In” to your
Foursquare followers. You can even choose to Tweet or FB-share your Check In to get to your whole social network.
People can contribute to the Foursquare grid by adding Tips, businesses can add promotions, you can
earn Badges, or Mayorships of locations by doingcertain tasks or (to be Mayor) spending the most time
there in the last 60 days. (Ace will recommend what sort of ORound to order for example.)
And for Lexington, in terms of adoption and usage, it’s about where Twitter was a few years ago. One of the most prolific users in Lexington is @asiansteev, one of our favorite geeks (cover guy for the Techs in Lex edition).
Ace has tagged the 82 Horse Mania II horses throughout Lexington on Foursquare, so people can
check in at say “1HP” corner of Maxwell and South Limestone. [pictured]
And, we’re running a super game with a BIG Prize. If
you are the first to join Foursquare, friend
AceWeekly and Check In at all 82 horses and the
AceWeekly HQ on Jefferson Street near Second Street
(conveniently located next to the chocolate horse) and contact us at acelist@aceweekly.com to report in,
you will win a grand prize of swag at the annual Ace Best of Lex party.
But, if you just want to cast a digital vote for your favorite Horse Mania II work of public art, just join
Foursquare, walk up to the nag qua Work of Art and Check In.
Collect ‘em all! (Your Foursquare page records your Check Ins). Challenge your friends! Leave tips for
other horse visitors about nearby businesses, restrooms, barrooms or attractions. Or leave horse-related tips about the horses. That way, when our international guests arrive and visit and check in at the horse sculptures from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10, they’ll have handy tips from locals, already on the GPS.
It’s all part of a plan by AceWeekly to really take the Alltech-FEI World Equestrian Games global. Get
it, get it, GPS? Global Positioning System? World? Check In? Foursquare? Think Global, Check In Local?
We’ll have more WEG fun to roll out online and in real life as the countdown continues and as the Best of Lex results are published.
(How to find the Horse Mania Horses: LexArts is selling the guide to the art installations for $1.)
