Bloomberg brags up NYC business with #4SqDay

Foursquare Day is on April 16th: are you celebrating?

Most companies usually only get to celebrate themselves once a year, on the day their company was founded or product launched. For Foursquare, that’s in mid-March, when SXSW hosts its annual tech (Interactive) extravaganza in Austin, Texas. Not content with just one day though, the New York City-based startup has been trying to get users and businesses on board with the movement to make April 16th the official “Foursquare Day.” (Get it? Four squared equals 16. Someone in marketing is a clever devil...)

Well, I guess it’s starting to work. The actual Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, stopped by Foursquare headquarters to deliver a city proclamation declaring 4/16 as Foursquare Day. In the photo above, Bloomberg is flanked by Foursquare co-founders Dennis Crowley, on the left, and Naveen Selvadurai, on the right.

And here reads the conclusion to the proclamation:

Now therefore, I, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York and the aspiring “Mayor” of City Hall, in recognition of this exciting event, do hereby proclaim Saturday, April 16th, 2011 in the City of New York as:

“Foursquare Day”

It doesn't really mean much more than a lot of city pride for one of New York's coolest and most successful startups, and it's intended to inspire other startups to aim as high.

(I was curious to see whether 4/16 was notable for any other holidays, but didn’t really turn up much. Although it’s the birth date of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, silent film master Charlie Chaplin, and Pope Benedict XVI, the current leader of the Roman Catholic Church, that’s not very much competition for the star of location-based social networking.)

The news makes New York the latest of 14 other cities officially participating in Foursquare Day, though there are tons more around the world with meetups and other events planned. Having its hometown recognize it in this way, however, is especially nice for Foursquare because it highlights the innovation and special breed of entrepreneurship bubbling in the famous metropolis three thousand miles from Silicon Valley.

A year ago, Foursquare was only nearing one million users, while today the service has grown to a couple million shy of the big ten. Celebrating Foursquare Day, especially with Bloomberg’s stamp of approval, is one sure way to keep the growth going.