Cable network C-SPAN is home to the largest video library focused on politics and the federal government. They’ve now launched a partnership with Foursquare to help share that library — and the American political process — with Foursquare’s users.
By following their Foursquare profile, you’ll see popups with educational tips when you check in at places like the Capitol Building or White House. The tips include things like historical facts and links to relevant videos from C-SPAN’s vast archive. Here’s what they’ve said about the Washington Monument:
Built between 1848 and 1884. It’s 555’5-1/8’’ tall and has 897 steps. See the C-SPAN video of the reopening of the Monument in 2002, after its renovation. [Link]
Some video links point to long-form videos on the C-SPAN site (the Washington Monument video is 35 minutes long), while others point to shorter videos on Youtube. You can view those videos directly from your phone, like this one they’ve posted at the Supreme Court.
C-SPAN is aiming to keep their tips fresh by posting about current events as they occur, much like the Wall Street Journal has done in New York. Their tips are currently aimed at historical venues while the DC summer tourist season is in full swing.
In addition to hours (and hours and hours) of raw video of Senate sessions and Congressional testimony and other Washington topics, C-SPAN also has a large library of footage from shows like Book TV and American History TV. In the future they’ll be adding tips and videos to venues around the country related to those shows as well. The new C-SPAN Digital Bus will also be checking in at locations it visits on its nationwide tour and posting tips about those venues.
“Establishing a presence on foursquare is a natural progression for C-SPAN as we continue to embrace new and emerging online tools to advance our public service mission,” says C-SPAN co-president (and mayor of their headquarters) Rob Kennedy. “We’ve been connecting to our audience through Twitter, Facebook, an iPhone app, embeddable video through the online C-SPAN Video Library, and even a new dedicated bit.ly URL, cs.pn. Now, foursquare gives us another new platform, providing location-based information about politics, policy, and government directly to the public. Via geosocial networking, we hope our foursquare friends will get Washington their way,” he says.
“Foursquare users will benefit from C-SPAN’s involvement in foursquare by getting access to educational tips. The tips are based on C-SPAN’s public service coverage of national politics, policy, and government – and just like our coverage, will be offered free of commentary. Just like the facts, it will be just the tips,” says Howard Mortman, C-SPAN’s Communications Director.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to share C-SPAN’s wealth of information on politics, policy and government with our users. We look forward to continuing to work with C-SPAN to find new ways to increase political engagement through the foursquare platform,” says Tristan Walker, Head of Business Development for foursquare.
C-SPAN’s partnership with Foursquare was orchestrated by interactive branding agency JESS3. They’ve previously partnered with C-SPAN for their Debate Hubs, Convention Hubs and the redesign of the C-SPAN video library. (FULL DISCLOSURE: JESS3 is a sponsor of AboutFoursquare)
“We actually have several active personal users at C-SPAN. Foursquare is one of those emerging social media platforms that could take off. If it does, we’d like to be in on the early stages of its growth,” says Mortman.
Check out C-SPAN’s profile page and tips and let us know what you think in the comments.
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