Comments on: The Trouble With Location-Based Social Media… http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/ Thoughts on location, product management, and social media technologies. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:34:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Amy http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-127 Amy Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:38:07 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-127 Your comparison of location-based social media systems makes me think of classified ads. As far as the locked in environments go, I'm sure that is only a business rule to encourage a higher concentration of users and thus a better experience. For instance, a the classified ads for a local alternative/independent news paper encourages a more cultured and tight nit community than that of a city/state wide paper. The locked in environments would also allow for better crowd moderation, thus enhancing the clusters of population. For example, craigslist was very exclusive to San Fransisco back in 1995. Now it's a hit all over the shop. If the released a worldwide craigslist to begin with, it probably wouldn't be so popular today. That being said, there's nothing that stopped e-bay from exploding on to the scene, apart from good marketing and branding. The amount of people who are comfortable with location-based social media is a small fraction. Its my belief that it will continue to be a niche for a while, and will take time to absolve the problems you've written about. Good to see you blogging again! Your comparison of location-based social media systems makes me think of classified ads.

As far as the locked in environments go, I’m sure that is only a business rule to encourage a higher concentration of users and thus a better experience. For instance, a the classified ads for a local alternative/independent news paper encourages a more cultured and tight nit community than that of a city/state wide paper.

The locked in environments would also allow for better crowd moderation, thus enhancing the clusters of population. For example, craigslist was very exclusive to San Fransisco back in 1995. Now it’s a hit all over the shop. If the released a worldwide craigslist to begin with, it probably wouldn’t be so popular today. That being said, there’s nothing that stopped e-bay from exploding on to the scene, apart from good marketing and branding.

The amount of people who are comfortable with location-based social media is a small fraction. Its my belief that it will continue to be a niche for a while, and will take time to absolve the problems you’ve written about.

Good to see you blogging again!

]]> By: Amy http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-89 Amy Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:05:28 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-89 There are a number of other location sharing applications, as well. I call them the "first generation:" BrightKite, Loopt, Shizzow, among others. Google even has Latitude. It's exciting times, but indeed overwhelming. I'm getting three notifications on my iPhone now when some friends, who are on all the services, check in at each one. Ouch. There is a universal check-in system, called FireEagle, made by Yahoo. It pre-dates many of the location sharing applications, but few have implemented it. There are a number of other location sharing applications, as well. I call them the “first generation:” BrightKite, Loopt, Shizzow, among others. Google even has Latitude.

It’s exciting times, but indeed overwhelming. I’m getting three notifications on my iPhone now when some friends, who are on all the services, check in at each one. Ouch.

There is a universal check-in system, called FireEagle, made by Yahoo. It pre-dates many of the location sharing applications, but few have implemented it.

]]> By: Ryan Strynatka http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Ryan Strynatka Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:02:22 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-12 Hi Jonathan - Thanks for the insight! Interesting comparison with Craigslist, and I suppose it may be a bit of a double-edge sword. It allowed Craigslist to stay focused, but it also opened up the opportunity for regional competition. For example, Craigslist is hardly used at all in Europe, and here in Canada it seems like more people are using Kijiji - which I had never heard of until I moved back here (but it was invaluable for relocation planning)... Good point on the privacy issue: this is where control over how your information is shared, and to what granularity (e.g. sharing my home address versus the city I am in) is important. Another interesting thing to think about is the data sharing aspect: anyone using a check-in system is contributing valuable business data: - Location data (places) - Demographic data: user info, along with data on the types of places and frequency with which they check-in. - Network relationships: frequency of "solo" check-ins versus checking into places where your friends are. The value is massive when you think about, and has a lot of implications for a company like Foursquare. It'll be interesting to see if they (and others in the space) stay niche in 2010 or if there is an explosion in popularity. I'm on the fence myself. There are certainly some obstacles, but I do see potential for broad uptake. Hi Jonathan – Thanks for the insight! Interesting comparison with Craigslist, and I suppose it may be a bit of a double-edge sword. It allowed Craigslist to stay focused, but it also opened up the opportunity for regional competition. For example, Craigslist is hardly used at all in Europe, and here in Canada it seems like more people are using Kijiji – which I had never heard of until I moved back here (but it was invaluable for relocation planning)…
Good point on the privacy issue: this is where control over how your information is shared, and to what granularity (e.g. sharing my home address versus the city I am in) is important.

Another interesting thing to think about is the data sharing aspect: anyone using a check-in system is contributing valuable business data:
- Location data (places)
- Demographic data: user info, along with data on the types of places and frequency with which they check-in.
- Network relationships: frequency of “solo” check-ins versus checking into places where your friends are.
The value is massive when you think about, and has a lot of implications for a company like Foursquare. It’ll be interesting to see if they (and others in the space) stay niche in 2010 or if there is an explosion in popularity. I’m on the fence myself. There are certainly some obstacles, but I do see potential for broad uptake.

]]> By: Jonathan Nagy http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Jonathan Nagy Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:51:52 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-11 Your comparison of location-based social media systems makes me think of classified ads. As far as the locked in environments go, I'm sure that is only a business rule to encourage a higher concentration of users and thus a better experience. For instance, a the classified ads for a local alternative/independent news paper encourages a more cultured and tight nit community than that of a city/state wide paper. The locked in environments would also allow for better crowd moderation, thus enhancing the clusters of population. For example, craigslist was very exclusive to San Fransisco back in 1995. Now it's a hit all over the shop. If the released a worldwide craigslist to begin with, it probably wouldn't be so popular today. That being said, there's nothing that stopped e-bay from exploding on to the scene, apart from good marketing and branding. The amount of people who are comfortable with location-based social media is a small fraction. Its my belief that it will continue to be a niche for a while, and will take time to absolve the problems you've written about. Good to see you blogging again! Your comparison of location-based social media systems makes me think of classified ads.

As far as the locked in environments go, I’m sure that is only a business rule to encourage a higher concentration of users and thus a better experience. For instance, a the classified ads for a local alternative/independent news paper encourages a more cultured and tight nit community than that of a city/state wide paper.

The locked in environments would also allow for better crowd moderation, thus enhancing the clusters of population. For example, craigslist was very exclusive to San Fransisco back in 1995. Now it’s a hit all over the shop. If the released a worldwide craigslist to begin with, it probably wouldn’t be so popular today. That being said, there’s nothing that stopped e-bay from exploding on to the scene, apart from good marketing and branding.

The amount of people who are comfortable with location-based social media is a small fraction. Its my belief that it will continue to be a niche for a while, and will take time to absolve the problems you’ve written about.

Good to see you blogging again!

]]> By: Ryan Strynatka http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Ryan Strynatka Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:54:13 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-10 Good points: I've used Brightkite and Centrl as well, but never stuck with them due to various issues (mainly bugs/design problems). I'd forgotten about FireEagle, which goes a long way in solving the problem. More on that here with regards to Foursquare: http://getsatisfaction.com/foursquare/topics/fireeagle_integration3 Good points: I’ve used Brightkite and Centrl as well, but never stuck with them due to various issues (mainly bugs/design problems). I’d forgotten about FireEagle, which goes a long way in solving the problem. More on that here with regards to Foursquare: http://getsatisfaction.com/foursquare/topics/fireeagle_integration3

]]> By: AdamD http://www.fiducialmark.com/2010/01/19/the-trouble-with-location-based-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9 AdamD Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:28:10 +0000 http://www.fiducialmark.com/?p=187#comment-9 There are a number of other location sharing applications, as well. I call them the "first generation:" BrightKite, Loopt, Shizzow, among others. Google even has Latitude. It's exciting times, but indeed overwhelming. I'm getting three notifications on my iPhone now when some friends, who are on all the services, check in at each one. Ouch. There is a universal check-in system, called FireEagle, made by Yahoo. It pre-dates many of the location sharing applications, but few have implemented it. There are a number of other location sharing applications, as well. I call them the “first generation:” BrightKite, Loopt, Shizzow, among others. Google even has Latitude.

It’s exciting times, but indeed overwhelming. I’m getting three notifications on my iPhone now when some friends, who are on all the services, check in at each one. Ouch.

There is a universal check-in system, called FireEagle, made by Yahoo. It pre-dates many of the location sharing applications, but few have implemented it.

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