In the media battle raging between The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for New York City, the WSJ has the technological advantage. Writing for TechCrunch Erick Schonfeld reports that the Wall Street Journal is using the geo-based social networking service Foursquare to maximize their market penetration.

Schonfeld reports that the WSJ has created three different types of badges for the various demographics the Journal hopes to attract. The three badges include a Banker Badge, a Urban Adventurer Badge, and a Lunch Box badge which will be awarded to readers who access the WSJ for information corresponding to the financial world, neighbourhood reviews, and dinning recommendations.

While Schonfeld doubts that the WSJ's presence on Foursquare will "convince New Yorkers to turn to the Wall Street Journal for local reporting," the badges represents the increasing number of partnerships occurring between publications and the social networking service.

The Financial Times recently announced that they would begin offering free access to their articles to Foursquare users in the areas around global financial centres and major business schools. Although data is not currently available to determine the success of these Foursquare partnerships, the geographically targeting reader represents another way publications might be able to reach a desired demographic, potentially increasing their readership base.

Source: TechCrunch