The Seattle Times gets a Foursquare upgrade

The Seattle Times was one of the first newspapers to offer tips on Foursquare. They did it all through a regular user profile before brand profiles became available. Today they’ve finally been upgraded to a full brand profile.

The Seattle Times will continue to offer tips from their editors and bloggers on restaurants and bars throughout the Puget Sound area. Some tips are mini-reviews while others recommend a specific menu item, like this one at Tulio Ristorante:

Times food writer Nancy Leson recommends the smoked-salmon ravioli with lemon zest. She enjoys the richness of the smoky salmon and its citrus-infused cream sauce.

Strangely, all of the reviews are positive. In looking through their tips, none seem to offer tips on restaurants or dishes to avoid even though the paper occasionally includes negative reviews in their print edition and on their website.

Brand profiles offer several significant advantages over user profiles for this kind of use. They provide better privacy for users, increased visibility and an easier user experience, where the “friending” process is replaced by a simple, one click “follow.”

Through June 8, the Seattle Times had added 360 tips but gained fewer than 60 “friends.” Today, with a full brand profile, their following has grown to 200 users.