Geolocation services were mostly a negatively portrayed Hollywood George Orwellian type scenario for many a year until recentlythat is when things got a little more real and we all started oversharing like demons. During this transition the ability of phones, apps and services have been quietly upping the ante, Foursquare being the most recent to hit the headlines. Used by (surprisingly?) few people (around 200,000 per TechCrunch) the much-touted service encourages people to share where they are and offer tips on their city for rewards and status. Sounds simple? Well it is. Does that make it right? Not so much. What some call "updates", others call "spam" and whilst the former always have the option of unfollowing and defriending it would be great if there was a middle ground. So I put it to the always-impeccably-thoughtful-when-sharing Fire Brigade...who it turns out were pretty split on it.
Are they right? Duke it out in the comments!!!
The Fire Brigade is recruiting! Just email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up!
"Geo-location apps like foursquare and Gowalla could go awry, saying 'I’m working from the café this afternoon' is potentially like saying 'great time to loot my house'. Rewarding customers for frequent visits to a physical place of business has merit, as does analyzing a public’s location-based preferences and behaviors."
- Ryan Zuk / Freelance
"Google Latitude is actually more interesting because it allows you to see exactly where your friends are by GPS. [Although] keep your eye on Twitter, with geo-location now being an inbuilt feature there is no reason why Twitter won't develop it's own functionality."
- Rhys Howell / Social Medium
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am a Foursquare addict. I also see the potential for clients and have started to include it in pitches where appropriate. Becoming a friend to your customers in this way can only help to keep them loyal.
- Beth Carroll / Ash Communications
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The key for many of these tools is in integration. Many are experiencing information overload when it comes to social media – too many applications, too many updates and too many unwanted messages. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some mergers and acquisitions in this space in 2010…"
- Danny Whatmough / Wildfire
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Aside from the obvious use of retail coupons, there may be ways of capturing the tool for events, for example- perhaps conference organizers, sponsors or even attending companies can use Foursquare to organize more impromptu meetups- or even in the spirit of the game, engineer some kind of scavenger hunt.”
- Doug Haslam / Shift Communications
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** WANT TO JOIN THE FIRE BRIGADE? ****
It's free and easy... just like...something free and easy! : email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up!
