Starbucks asks Foursquare to the dance…will recruitment follow?

After one year in operation, the geo-location/game/stalker’s dream tool Foursquare has landed a huge brand: Starbucks. Foursquare is a mobile-device based game in which people “check in” at places they visit (the gym, a bar, an airport terminal, etc) and often share their location with friends via Twitter and Facebook. Since the game started, businesses have been exploring ways to take leverage foursquare, and there is already a Foursquare coupon system.

Starbucks has just started using Foursquare as part of a new customer rewards program. To take part in this program, all you have to do is use foursquare to ‘checkin’ at your Starbucks location (I use the Foursquare app on my Droid).

While Starbucks has no official prizes associated with Foursquare activity (such as free coffee), after five checkins customers unlock the new “Barista badge.” The first specifically business branded badge on Foursquare, although almost certainly not the last.

Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg for an organization that has already leveraged multiple presences on both Facebook and Twitter. If nothing else, Starbucks is hyper-activate about finding ways to leverage the groundswell and social media.

While both Twitter and Foursquare are looking to offer more business analytics tools (Foursquare plans to introduce free statistics and engagement tools for businesses) Starbucks is apparantly hoping to use Foursquare to provide more meaningful prizes. Some possibilities incluse invitations to special events, photo sharing or online reputation scores.

Already I’ve begun to hear people discussing ways to possibly use Foursquare in recruitment. Is it possible? Is it advised? How would it work? Would candidates get to unlock some special ‘2nd Interview!’ Badge? Or are mobile-based geo-location tools simply not relevant?