Image by 6S via Flickr
Location based services, utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of mobile devices, continue to gain momentum.
Now not only do I have to keep up appearances on Facebook, share what's happening on Twitter but I also have to check into places of interest, restaurants and bars! Everyone is going to know that I check into plenty of bars, is that a good thing?!
I have interacted with location based services for a while and I still think we're yet to see the killer app introduced. I feel that Foursquare and Gowalla are close to realising the potential, but would like to see services pushing towards a standard! I rate the ability to publish to the Facebook newsfeed, to-do lists, history/stats, the ability to upload photos and I would also like the ability to interact with friends and their activity.
With Facebook Connect, the option to publish to the newsfeed encourages friends to participate. I have noticed several of my friends now using Gowalla since I began publishing my activity and I'm sure this will continue to increase in popularity. The to-do lists on Foursquare are a great method of discovery, I have spoken to friends about this and they're intrigued so it's definitely an attractive feature.
Being able to provide historical data and statistics obviously has advantages, location based services potentially could offer coupons and promotions and it's all about the freebies!
Providing the ability to upload photos, allows us to add our identity to the location. Whether it's to capture the moment or to just upload something random, it's personalised! Finally interaction is primarily why I contribute to social networks so providing multiple layers for communication enhances the usability and likelihood that the service will become widely adopted!
What features would you like to see introduced?
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