Facebook Places - Good For Location Based Services?

A recent report from Forrester Research suggests that only 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and that 1 percent use them weekly. The numbers also indicate that users of the service generally live in urban areas and are very tech savvy. “Ever since mobile phones and location technology got started, there have been conversations about the potential for doing something really incredible with this for marketers,” said Melissa Parrish, an interactive marketing analyst at Forrester. “But clearly the question is whether it has reached the mainstream, and it looks like the answer is no.” I think that I would also add, a big... not yet!

“Clearly location is not yet mainstream — it’s still a younger-demographic phenomenon — but if anyone can change it, Facebook will,” said Sam Altman, chief executive of Loopt. I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Altman. Consider how many many of your elder family members and friends who might have ever tried video games, now think of how many Facebook messages you receive regarding Farmville, Mafia Wars, and the like... who are the people associated with these requests? If your Facebook timeline looks like mine, it's the older less than technical folk. Additionally, while this is a very small sampling, my 16 year old asked me about foursquare recently. He, as you can imagine is truly tuned into technology and while he and his friends have largely shunned Twitter, foursquare has caught there attention and they are after all the Facebook generation.

In my mind it is business, large and small, that have to take the lead and make location based services more than a game that is played between tech savvy friends, and they will, over time. I can't imagine that phone manufacturers will start abandoning location, nor do I imagine that location based services will give up and go away. It's but a matter of time before we see the real value that location holds and when we do, look out.   

Source: nytimes.com

Facebook Places - foursquare And Gowalla On Board?

Last night Facebook announced it's entry into location based services and the giant offered foursquare and Gowalla a chance to sing the praises of "Places" and it's api. There had been a lot of speculation of late that Facebook may have been in the market to acquire one of these smaller players or that their entry would simply squash them out of existence. The move, at least on the surface, of making places an open api for the smaller companies to hang their code onto is either an olive branch or perhaps a trial balloon. In any event it will be interesting to see how this plays out and if being a feeder for Facebook (they will consume data driven from foursquare and Gowalla but not offer anything in the other direction) helps to accelerate the growth of these services. If the later is true, I hope they can keep up with the Facebook affect!

foursquare Superuser To The Rescue!

An honor has been bestowed upon me, one that I really hadn't realized that I had received until I was comparing accounts on foursquare.com with a few co-workers. It seems that I am a Superuser and with this comes super powers... well not really but I am able to help foursquare maintain their data regarding their venues. Dare i say it? "With great power comes great responsibility"... you knew I would!

So, what is a Superuser and how do you become one? (like a lot of foursquares's badges they are quite secretive about how to achieve them). We were able to do a quick Google search and ascertain the following: 

"Superusers are regular users who’ve been hand selected by the Foursquare staff to help maintain the venue database.

There are two types of superusers, Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 superusers have the ability to edit any venue, including name, address, map pin location and tags. They can also suggest duplicate venues to be merged and mark venues as closed.

Level 2 superusers have all the abilities of a Level 1 superuser, but they can also complete merges suggested by other superusers and add categories to venues. To merge venues, they use a special interface that shows both venues to be merged. They can choose which information to keep from each venue page, but they cannot choose which map pin should be kept. This is why it’s important to choose the location with the best map pin when suggesting venues to be merged.

A Level 3 superuser option exists which allows those superusers to create and remove venue aliases. Due to the potential for abuse, however, this level has never been awarded is only awarded very rarely." http://aboutfoursquare.com/faq-what-is-a-superuser/

The biggest issue I've had with foursquare to date is that I can be standing in the doorway of a venue and be told that I'm hundreds of meters away, I always just chalked that up to my phone or provider but now I am able to see and correct the issue for all foursquare players and the power in the universe has shifted on the side of good! May the foursquare be with you. (Sorry, but I crack me up some times.)

Google Latitude - Share Your Location Or Not

Google has unveiled a new Google Maps feature, for your mobile phone, called Latitude. When you opt in to Latitude you can share your current location with those who might care about your whereabouts.

"Latitude is a new feature for Google Maps on your mobile device. It's also an iGoogle gadget on your computer. Once you've opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you... And with Latitude, not only can you see your friends' locations on a map, but you can also be in touch directly via SMS, Google Talk, Gmail, or by updating your status message; you can even upload a new profile photo on the fly."

The nice thing about Latitude is that Google lets you be in control of what everyone sees, with differing degrees of accuracy, and they even allow you to hide if you choose.

Source: Official Google Blog