We unlocked the SWARM Badge (50 people) on Foursquare!

For the first time in Africa!

Yayyy!! Wooohooo!

But unfortunately we didn't get to the Super SWARM Badge (250 people). That we'll unlock at the next SWARM Party.

Thank you to all who got behind the one matchstick SWARM Party, especially our sponsors:

• SAB - Castle Lager
• Jolandie Rust
• Glow Bangles
• Distro Tech
• Poken
• Rabin Harduth of Comic Revolution
• Stan of the Bluesroom

Must get some sleep now, after all that celebrating and listening to the awesome bands!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, we have had to move venues for the SWARM Party.

Due to moving venues, we have had to move dates too.

And due to moving dates we have a new exciting line-up of bands.

I've always wondered what could possibly have been happening behind the scenes when someone says "due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to change everything."

So I suppose the next saying that comes to mind is "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" because for this event, I have had first hand experience that has led me to be in the position to say, "due to circumstances beyond my control, we have had to change everything about the SWARM Party- except the swarm part."

And then another saying comes to mind. Those closest to me who have been watching me zoot all over Jozi and make plenty of phone calls in the last 48 hours to find a new venue, have been saying: "it'll probably work out for the better!"

And it looks like it is doing just that. *sigh of relief*

The news is:

The one matchstick SWARM Party is still on- it's just been postponed to Saturday the 20th November 2010.

The venue is now the awesome Bluesroom in Village Walk, Sandton.

And the line-up of bands: I am busy finalising this, so you'll find out in the next few days, but it is looking super fly! Really! It is exciting!

So look out for the details to follow, and spread the word that we will now be swarming on 20 November at the Bluesroom!

[this was updated 13 Oct with date and venue changes]

The 'matchstick girl attempts South Africa's first ever SWARM Party on 20 November 2010 – a social networking game and social responsibility project rolled into one exciting live event.

Telana Simpson, also known as the 'matchstick girl, has been trading a single matchstick up in value with the ultimate goal of reaching office space, which she wants to offer to start-up entrepreneurs to help them get their businesses off the ground.

She traded a matchstick for a pen, and then swapped the pen for a toy frog, and the toy for two books. The books she traded for two cases of First Sighting wine, and has continued trading up in value. She is currently on her tenth trade which involves trading 375 designer T-shirts from the Cape Town based start-up company Springleap, with 375 people. She believes she will get to her offices in three or four more trades once she has finished her tenth trade.

Telana is holding South Africa's first SWARM Party where she has organised three of South Africa's up and coming bands to play at the Bluesroom, Village Walk . The rock/pop bands are Broken People, Mantis Moon and Book of Thieves. VIP tickets for R183 include one of her Springleap T-shirts and two Castle Lagers sponsored by SAB, plus entry to the SWARM Party.

A SWARM Party is an event that involves the exciting social networking, location based game Foursquare.com, which is new to South Africa but growing very rapidly in popularity.

Foursquare is a free online game with a phone application where you create an account and connect with your friends. When at a venue, you check-in to that venue and can see if any of your friends are there as well, or where they are at that time. You can leave tips and recommendations about the venue and see nearby venues and any specials they are offering. The person who checks-in the most in a two month period to a certain venue becomes the "Mayor" of that venue.

The more things you do on Foursquare, the more points and badges you can earn which are displayed on your profile. The points are also displayed on the Leaderboard so you can see if you are beating your friends or who is in the lead.

A SWARM Party is an offline event where at least 250 people get together to take part in an online Foursquare flashmob at a designated time. They get together to be part of the Crowd Swarm, and all 250 people have to check-in on Foursquare at the venue, within the same hour, to get points and get awarded the coveted "Super Swarm Badge" on their profile.

This one matchstick SWARM Party on 20 November is an opportunity for South African players of Foursquare to unlock the hard-to-get Super Swarm Badge. Telana is going for a record of this SWARM Party being the first in South Africa to unlock the Super Swarm Badge on the African continent, while at the same time helping her finish her tenth trade and get one step closer to making her 'one matchstick office' dream a reality.

Players who want to attend the SWARM Party need to get their VIP tickets from Telana on 083 730 2979 or onematchstick@gmail.com