There is an argument that blog posts about interesting or instructive social web links have been made superfluous by the immediacy of Twitter tweets.

To a certain extent this is true, although I do wonder how many tweets with links to blog posts about social web trends have in fact been read by the tweeter before forwarding.

To be honest, I am guilty sometimes of only skimming posts before sending them on to Twitter followers. The posts below from the past two weeks, however, I have read and can recommend for their insight and sensible point of view.

ON FOURSQUARE:

• Foursquare is . . . is Five Times Larger Than Gowalla (TechCrunch)
• 21 Unique Location Examples fro Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl and My Town (SocialFresh)
• Why We Check In: The Reasons People Use Location-Based Social Networks (Read Write Web)
• Michael Brito: Straight talk on location-based social marketing (SmartBlog on Social Media)

ON SOCIAL MEDIA MEASUREMENT:

• Six reasons you shouldn't invest in ROI (Econsultancy)
• 5 Objectives for Social Media Measurement (Brass Tack Thinking)
• 4I's & 7C's of Social Media Measurement (PRincipal of PRoof)

ON ONLINE ACTIVISM:

• Slacktivism: Helping Humanity With a Click of the Mouse (Fast Company)
• How Political Campaigns are Using Social Media for Real Results (Mashable)
• Fixing Social Media (Cause Global: Social Media for Social Change)
• humo(u)r and (sl)activism (Withoutayard)

Time magazine not too long ago rated Foursquare as among The 50 Worst Inventions (along with Crocs, DDT and subprime mortgages). When I talk to friends about the social web tools I use regularly, Foursquare is the one that comes in for the most derision (although the same happened two years ago when I started to use Twitter).

I've given it a few months. I have a variety of badges and am now mayor of the Starbucks in the Longo's Food Market, of my favorite Toronto restaurant Pangaea, a Chapters bookstore,  my whole office building in Toronto, and my home office. I just started following Mashable on foursquare. And it is fun knowing what connections or business associates are up to you.

But so far the "rewards" have been non-existent, although according to Mashable we will be able to start wearing Foursquare gear and apparently Foursquare will be coming out with badge rewards. There is the guilty and somewhat narcissistic pleasure of being 'mayor' of somewhere. But no specials have been offered. No frequent-visitor "miles" from Starbucks. Only two friends have used the tips feature (thanks Ed Lee and Collin Douma). And I have annoyed many with frequent updates of my location by connecting Foursquare to Twitter and Facebook, a function I've now disabled.

Still, being a contrarian I think I'll mount a defence, although I'm sure these ideas have been mentioned by others. 

There are obvious reasons for retailers and tourism groups and associations to take a close look at geo-tagging services like Foursquare. Site-specific communications for cities and historic/art sites are also a possibility. I think I read somewhere that the Philadelphia tourism bureau has made an arrangement with Foursquare to 'tag' historic sites with background  information. When you check-in at a historic monument or attraction, the 'tip' accompanying the tag a short burst of background or a recommendation for another site close by.

Foursquare is also uniquely suited to small, local businesses who serve a broad but regular clientele. Knowing that specific and identifiable customers frequent your restaurant, coffee shop, or clothing store means you can potentially reward their loyalty or recommend other products or services. I could see how companies with large sales staff could use Foursquare as a means of staff checking in.

People give a lot individual reasons for using Foursquare . . . arranging meetups at conferences, picking out local pubs, gathering nearby 'firends' for an impromptu party. Rae Hoffman at Outspoken Media used Foursquare 'tips' to avoid long line-ups at the airport in Orland Florida.

But what about for managing a company or organization's reputation or dealing with an issue? I'm hard-pressed to think of anything more applicable than these two ideas:

1. Build some identity capital simply by ensuring your company name appears in the list of 'places' when someone checks in in your vicinity, and add a tip the points out your vision and values.
2. Provide contact information for a community manager in your company so that Foursquare users nearby recognize that you value connection

I dont' know where Foursquare is at with respect to building out any of these evident strengths. But we Foursquare users are a patient bunch of folks. While standing by for more substantive applications, I am happy just to wait it out and build my geo-power base.

Sorry for the blatant promotion of my own firm and its marketing communications arm, but the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is underway until the end of this week and we (in the global sense, not me personally) are there.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, my firm is posting video interviews with a variety of leading public relations, advertising, technology and entertainment VIPs on a dedicated online TV channel called Cannes Eye.

You can check it out in the right navigation bar on my website. The first onsite interview in Cannes is with Sir Martin Sorrell, my boss (although about 12 levels higher in the pecking order, in fact at the top the WPP heap).

And for my marketing and advertising friends, episode two posted to hours ago includes interviews with Peter Krainik of the CMO Club and Bob Kilbreath of the digital marketing agency Bridge Worldwide.  

Not to belabor my three day long post about UPS and the case of the missing MacBook any longer, but Apple has come to the rescue.

After explaining on Friday morning  to Melissa ("We'll take care of this.") at Apple  that UPS had promised delivery of my MacBook on June 15th, and I had therefore met Apple's three-days-lost criteria, she told me not to worry, they would handle it. I was promised that Apple's tracking team would get back to me within 48 business hours with  resolution.

True to Melissa's word, this afternoon I received notice from Apple that it was processing a refund since, indeed, UPS had lost -- or had stolen -- my MacBook. What a relief. I'm off to the retail store to buy the replacement.

It is amazing what happens when a customer service representative takes ownership of a problem and works to find a solution. Now that I am a bit calmer, if UPS would like to send me the name and phone number of a senior customer service representative, I would be delighted to make some suggestions on improving its processes.

Just got of the phone with Apple (25 minute wait) and here is what Brandon of Apple's customer service has to say: Apple has a policy that says it won't start a trace until three days after the scheduled delivery date. Why? Because the computer might just turn up. Yes, "it might just turn up."

This apparently happens with more frequency than we care to think. In Brandon's case, he said his most recent call with a similar lost package complaint was only four days ago, and he is one of 200 Apple customer service people.

I pointed out to Brandon ("We're all trying to do our best.") this means me calling Apple again to start a process that should be started when UPS tells me it can't find the MacBook and I pass that on to Apple.

But no . . . now I have to wait three days to start a trace process that only Apple can do.

By the way, Kim from UPS hasn't returned my call.