Foursquare launches contest for new US city badges

Inspired by President Obama’s #VisitUS initiative to encourage travel around the US, foursquare has launched a new contest to create lists of the best spots in each city around the country. Three of the best lists will be chosen, earning their respective cities one of foursquare’s coveted city badges.

Foursquare’s lists are easy to create, either alone or with help from your friends. To get started, visit foursquare.com/lists and create one (be sure to include the #VisitUS hashtag in the name). Add 20-30 of your favorite spots in the city (don’t forget tips and photos!) and submit it to foursquare. See our tips for creating a great list to give you some ideas.

When you’re done, you can either submit it to foursquare or share it on Twitter and Facebook with the #4sq and #VisitUS hashtags. The deadline is next Friday, February 3.

For foursquare, this has the side benefit of getting users to create quality lists in cities all over the country. Users have already created more than 500,000, but many of them are of foursquare’s generic variety. Lists are a great tool for finding things to do — especially in a new city — but finding quality ones is often a challenge. This move should help by encouraging users to create more lists in cities both large and small.

I’ve already submitted mine for Cincinnati. I can’t wait to see your lists in the comments.