digitally numb

Checking out (of) location-based social networking

After reading some glowing reviews, a group of friends walk into a new restaurant. Prior to being seated, the first thing they do is pull out their Smartphones and “check-in” their location. 5 minutes later, they’re seated and the menus arrive. Not a word is exchanged but the Smartphones are in action again (checking recommendations on what’s good on the menu). I’m not even going to bother getting into all the updates and photo taking that follows during the meal. I hope you get the picture. Do you see anything wrong with it? Depending on whether you’re a social media bee that’s perpetually buzzing (and loves the addition of geo-location, check-ins and mayorships to the mix) or whether you’re not so eager to broadcast your daily whereabouts, your answer may range from “nothing” to “everything”. I personally am intrigued by the location-based social networking trend, but not impressed enough. In fact, I’ve thought long and hard about the present and future data capabilities of location-based social networks, as well as the privacy implications and potential benefits of social media in general. I do understand why people use and love these services, but I just see no value in it for me yet.

I’m obviously no Luddite. I work for an Internet company, I blog, use Twitter, Facebook, etc. and I love my iPhone (probably a little too much). But I’m also very conscious of the big role these services and devices like the iPhone are beginning to play in my daily life. It’s getting to the point where it sometimes feels like my iPhone is a portable life support system that’s there to feed my insatiable need for real-time information. The more apps I use, the more active I get on social networks, the more irresistible is the urge to pull out my iPhone and check in on my digital life and the ever-expanding ocean of information on the Internet (while checking out of my real world surroundings). Currently, the only saving grace is I can still choose where to draw the line between my daily life and my online participation — I can disconnect or “slow down”. The problem with location-based social networking is that disconnecting is not really a viable option when the very purpose of these services is to blur erase the lines between our offline and online lives.

Another problem with location-based social networking is that all the apparent benefits of a data-driven life could easily turn into a burden, where instead of ever living in the moment, we’re constantly attempting to construct the perfect moment or busy “planning serendipity”. As Aldus Huxley put it so well “Even the best cookery book is no substitute for a bad dinner”. Now Huxley was obviously not talking about location-based social networks and their impact on our perception, but he was right about the fact that we tend to put too much weight on symbols, information and knowledge to the point where we start to believe they are somehow more real than what they stand for. Huxley wasn’t the only one who was concerned about the problem of being overtly influenced by words, knowledge and concepts already established. Jiddu Krishnamurti (a close friend of Huxley) said “Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity”. Krishnamurti’s core philosophy was all about liberating the mind from the burdens of memory and allowing it to appreciate spontaneously of the present moment. We’re quickly moving further away from this concept of freedom because not only do we have complete access to our own memories via the Internet and geo-location based services, but we can also tap into the collective memory and knowledge of our friends and social networks. This is obviously a double-edged sword, because the more you know about the everyone’s thoughts, experiences and whereabouts, the more you are influenced to act based on the information rather than follow your instincts.

This is not only about location-based social networks. Unfortunately, we’re marching towards a world where absolute dependence on data will be commonplace and eventually, we will come to accept that there won’t be a clear separation between the “real” world and the virtual universe of information. The price we will pay is having to manage the impact of knowledge becoming an unnecessary weight on our experiences.

It’s probably a futile effort, but I’d rather stick with spontaneity, live in every moment, experience real coincidences and actually discover new things. A discounted latte is somehow not a compelling enough incentive for me to give that up just yet.

The Social Data Balancing Act

Is life so boring that you need to turn it into a game?  Millions of people seem to think so and that’s why companies like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt and others are the new start up darlings. To the uninformed, these services appear to be similar to Facebook or Twitter, but only scarier, because you pretty much broadcast your precise geo-location every time you “check-in” somewhere in the offline world. Facebook may be busy spreading its social graph around the Internet, but foursquare and others are actually building a social graph in the real world (which probably explains why Facebook is also jumping onto the location/check-in bandwagon sometime soon).

Of course, none of these services are only about boasting about your active social life by broadcasting every place you visit. The gaming mechanics aspect of it turns routine visits to your gym of local coffee shop into a competition with others (and a marketer’s wet dream). The game encourages you to visit new places, add tips to places you visit, learn more about your friends and yourself. Users seem willing to share more data as they get more engaged with the services. This isn’t all about fun and businesses are seeing real value here. Just ask foursquare and their recent partners like the Wall Street Journal, Bravo, Pepsi, Time Out or the Financial Times. The loyalty and location-based marketing opportunities here seem endless. But where is all this heading?

Data!

Continuously improving the gaming mechanics involved (adding new badges, rewards, etc.) is going to be an important part of keeping users engaged and attracting new ones, but as the user base of  companies like Foursquare grows (they recently crossed 1 million users), the real  success of these businesses will hinge on their ability to mine the rich data that is being assembled by the minute.

A lot of people tend to think that the privacy issues here are less important because users proactively choose to broadcast their location by participating in such services. However, it all really depends upon what these services do with the data (or the social graph) they assemble. At this point they can pretty much do what they want, but as we’ve seen from recent examples, those actions are not without its consequences.

What companies like Foursquare decide to do with the data can either:

• directly benefit their users: improve their understanding of their city, friends and themselves;
• indirectly benefit their users: great marketing offers, discounts, freebies etc.; or
• offer what appears to be zero user benefit: share it with third parties who may in turn do whatever they please (whether good or bad).

Is this a privacy issue? Yes and no. It’s what I prefer to call the social data balancing act. On one end of the scale is the value proposition for the user/consumer and on the other end is the value proposition for the business. Of course, the two value propositions are not mutually exclusive, but achieving the right balance is the hardest part.

Here are some of the data choices that lay ahead:

Enhance the consumer value proposition:  Use the social graph data to generate a personalized analytics dashboard that provides rich insight and context into each users offline activities based on what they share on such services (places they visit, people they hang around with, emotions they feel). I’m not talking about the simple statistics and history they report now, but layering context and insights to identify patterns and make recommendations on how users can act on the data to improve their lives (e.g. recommended things to do or people to spend time with to make their day more enjoyable, based on previous behaviors). Think of it as a secure, user-specific performance dashboard that can help people optimize their lives based on data! Read this fascinating article from the New York Times about the potential value of a data-driven life.

Enhance the business value proposition: Mine the social graph data in the manner outlined above and assemble detailed psychological and behavioral profiles of all the users of such services with the goal of segmenting them into categories that can be packaged with data assembled from other sources (online and offline) to build rich profiles and insights that can ultimately be shared with marketers and other third parties for a price.

To be honest, it’s probably not even a question of choice. The real question is how all (or some) of the above will get done in a manner that balances competing interests, while ensuring the growth of the location-based social media business model. No matter how ridiculous the location trend appears to non-users, if you think about where all this is heading, you will realize that there could be some social value here. The bad news is that extracting that value will require some careful maneuvering through the murky and often stormy waters of privacy, consumer rights, responsible data use, the role of advertising, etc.

Let’s get this right

Social data will continue to grow no matter what, but we can use it to either enhance or disrupt our lives. If we somehow get this right, location-based social media businesses can not only be profitable, but can also create amazing consumer experiences that help their users live happier and better lives.

Ultimately, let’s hope we all come to realize that turning life into a game may not be that bad an idea after all.

Related Post: Managing the privacy impact of Internet microcelebrity culture