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.

Forgive the fact that this is about an initiative of my employer, but it is too cool to ignore.

Yesterday, we launched what we are claiming to be the world's first augmented reality news release to highlight our promotional activities around the Cannes Lions advertising festival. 

As described by our CMO, Tony Burgess-Webb, "The concept is simple: recipients receive a document with a special marker printed on it, go to our website and hold up the document to their webcam. Our promotional video (featuring our esteemed CEO without trousers) then appears to play directly on the piece of paper." 

If you have a printer and a webcam, you can try it out here. Or if you just want to see it in action see the video at http://vimeo.com/12260607.

Is there a future in augmented reality news releases? If fun is a criteria for news release success, then I think so.

Nothing in the ICCO's World Report 2010 is surprising including that "As interest in the exploitation of digital channels grows, public relations consultancies are increasingly positioning themselves as experts in the field, especially when it comes to managing an organisation's reputation online." (The ICCO is the umbrella organization for communications agency trade associations in 28 countries)

But here's a tip: If you are thinking of expanding your agency business internationally, forget Sweden where most consultants find that "companies perfer to mee their digital needs entirely in-house or via specialist sub-contractors". Instead head for Norway where "communication via new technologies is the domain of external providers, and 100% of consultancies offer these services". Demand and supply are growing.

The opportunities are in Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, India, and Turkey where communications consultancies are apparently slower to add social web expertise to their range of services.

Since we have so many social web experts in North America, maybe some should think of setting up shop in these under-served countries.

The plaintiff's bar, according to Richard Levick, "has asserted digital dominance over the defense. In countless class action engagements, plaintiffs’ attorneys have outpaced the companies they target in search engine marketing and optimization (SEM and SEO), in the blogosphere, and on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube."

The same can be said for companies under attack by activist groups and angry citizens. Activist organizations are much better at using the social web in attack mode, although they nearly always have far fewer resources at their disposal than their targets. The examples are legion, from Nestle to Toyota to critics of the development of Canada's oil sands.

It isn't so odd really. To use the social web to greatest effect, you need quick decision-making, nimble approval of content, faith that public opinion matters, and willingness to let others speak for you . . . in other words, actions counter to the command-and-control and circle-the-wagons mindset that overtakes the C-suite in a crisis. Unless it is proved that public opinion will influence the purchase behaviour of a company's customers, piss off regulators or make investors unhappy, there is a propensity for managers to equate defense with inaction.

But that isn't the best strategy. As Mao Zedong said "the only real defense is active defense.", which is a good description of what companies should think of doing online, and a more felicitous strategy for the social web than the common adage that 'the best defense is a good offense.'

Companies don't need to be combative or belligerent as might a plaintiff's counsel in the U.S. But they should offer -- and be willing to discuss -- a point of view using social web tools for three reasons:

1. A transparent, fact-based story shared with appropriate humility (if a mistake has been made) and discussed will get traction with non-aligned, non-dogmatic (yes, there are some) social web participants. The critics on the social web may shout the loudest, but the conversationalists and collectors can have political impact (Note . . .  Forrester Research social technographic categories)
2. The ubiquitous use of search -- on any platform (Google, Twitter, YouTube etc.) -- means that the company's angle on an issue or problem at least stands a chance of getting exposed to  non-obdurate or non-ideologically driven citizens.
3. Digital memory is timeless and the next time something happens to the company that digital retrospection may not just be of a mess but also of an accurate explanation.

Take a look at this description of an activists' training summit being organized in seven U.S. cities this spring and summer:

The following training courses were designed for the grassroots and focus on key areas of effective activism.

Grassroots Organizing:

• Creative Leadership
• Micro-targeting Precincts
• Building Effective Coalitions
• Media Training

Online Activism:

• Online Image Management
• Blogs and Wikis
• Patriots 2.0
• Creative Messaging

I know what you're thinking: It's just another left-wing fringe group preparing for the G20 Summit in June in Toronto or a protest over some environmental sin or other committed by a multinational corporation somewhere in the world.

Not this time. The social web activist boot camps are part of a series of 'Post-Party Summits' organized by a group announcing "the beginning of the new American Revolution, one in which we organize for liberty and take back our communities from the political class." That's right . . . The Tea Party, or one of its sister organizations on the right, is looking to train its supporters in social web influence strategies.

Ironically, it may be that the Obama presidential campaign's successful use of the social web has given the "enemy" new ideas for grassroots organizing.