Location-based services like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places show exciting possibilities to use built-in GPS services on mobile devices to provide services and entertainment to mobile users, allowing them to connect to friends, businesses and the world. However, there are also a number of downsides, not the least of which are security and privacy. On what side of the debate do you fall?
Image courtesy of http://posterous.freshpeel.com/?tag=foursquare
Web Practices Blog by Michele Bartram 
I always have found location-based mobile services to be a little creepy. I see no direct benefit from letting my Facebook friends or Twitter followers aware of exact location.
However, I do see a benefit from a marketing perspective. I think a lot of brands could use these location-based mobile apps to encourage consumers to visit their stores by offering coupons once the customer has arrived at the store and checked in.
I actually had an experience like this not too long ago when I was at a bar in Morgantown. The bar was advertising two-for-one drinks to anyone who checked into the bar via Facebook places. This proved to be a great way for them to advertise the bar and because they encouraged us to login in via Facebook places, our friends were notified once we checked in.
Until that night, I was unaware marketers were using location-based mobile services as a marketing medium but after a little research I found out it had been going on for quite a while. Below is a list of “5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns.”
http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/facebook-places-campaigns/
Amy- I’m in real agreement! I often find techniques that I admire as a marketer I find disturbing as a consumer. In my blog post this week, Digital privacy: To tweet may be sweet, but it’s not private!, I talk about the loss of privacy as digital media has emerged.
I’ll probably never be a FourSquare user (I guess that makes ME square?) Hmmm…..
– Michele