Using GPS & Location to Enhance Social Networking

First there were social networks, then there were location-based social networks and now GPS and navigation-enhanced mobile social networks. This panel will explore how these emerging platforms integrate with existing social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), leverage GPS navigation functionality and take location-aware social networking to the next level.

• Tom Marchioro, LBS Architect, Garmin International
• Daniel Gilmartin, VP Mktg, ULocate Communications
• Thor Johnson, SVP Media Markets, GyPSii
• Martin May, Founder, Brightkite
• John Adams, Operations, Twitter Inc
• Bryan Jones, CEO, Mobile Blasts Inc

Introductions

JA: Twitter. Location-based search services. Location and keyword-based searches. Hope to have more location based services in future.

DG: WHERE. ULocate. Boston-based. Friend-finder. Deliver yelp, local search, zip car to mobile. So, mobile-based locative service.

TJ. GyPSii. Next-gen social network. Launch first in China. Some traction in Europe. Coming to US soon. Emphasizes place.

BJ. Moximity. Existing social graph and overlays real information. So see where your friends go and what they do, without having to text. Still in beta and only in Austin, Texas.

MM. Brightkite. Ability to aggregate status updates by location.

TM: Garmin. Other people social networking. Garmin builds devices.

Interoperability

Text messages started in 80s; but no standard and not interoperable. 10-15 yrs later, IM still not standardized, not interoperable and not a monetized success.

OSLO. Commitment by 10-14 companies that allow people to have multiple accounts check a single point. Ie update Brightkite and then push to other providers. Like ping.fm.

May pro-interoperability, but some challenges. Social graph is different over different services. Pick social graph based on service. Who I follow on Twitter vs FaceBook, etc. Interoperability needs to take this into account.

Adams: Brightkite and Twitter have different ways of storing data. Single privacy setting: public or private. Brightkite higher granularity. Difficult to map these.

Marchioro: Chow created by Garmin. Sign up, launch application and member of all applications. Garmin has to brute-force some of the interoperability. Needs a precedence-model, which requires a central store.

Google Latitude new player.

Johnson. Still very early in social networking industry; much lower barrier to entry than the SMS model. Currently making some pieces talk together, will probably get swept away when bigger players enter the field.

Yahoo! with fire eagle should also be listed. Charter of Fire Eagle is location interoperability. Where you are is just a data point among others. Where you are now and then storage: where have you been.

Jones. If don't store more than current point, then severely limit functionality. But do to ability to predict.

Adam. Cross-authentication. oAuth is in public beta on Twitter. From a ux standpoint, have to give credentials out. This is bad. oAuth better for Twitter.

oAuth summary: Elect to use application. Application sends you back to original site. Two options: read only or read/write.

(Read the digital identity book)

Security & Privacy

Google Latitude stores only latest one. Some store more.

From individual’s point of view, location track is very invasive. Marketers would love, though. Can law enforcement go after that data?

May. Flexibility vs simplicity. If privacy too complicated, people don’t understand and won’t use. Control vs convenience. Brightkite is manual checkin. Not very convenient. People want it to auto-checkin, but lose control.

Adams: With services that auto-check-in; automation makes it difficult. People forget.

(GPS article in Wired)

Gilmartin: Google reading every email.

Jones: Privacy wins until value of service trumps the value of privacy.

Monetization

(History of SMS vs. IM)

Gilmartin: Two models MRC and free model. People pay $2.99/month for service.
Free: sponsorship, display and search.

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May: foursquare just came out at SXSW. Guys who created Dodgeball a long time ago. Just another data; how we use that data point is what matters. How can we add the location data point and make things more interesting.

Q & A

Q:
A: Johnson: Business model is based on the fact that most people don't upload and install software on their phones. In many of the most populous countries, people don't have laptops, their primary way to access the internet is via the phone.

Q: Chris Martin worked on Fire Eagle. Use oAuth. Have put a ton of work into security, privacy and interoperability. What does it need?
A: May: Would like Fire Eagle to have more auto-updaters. Google Latitude integrates with maps in phone.

Geohashing: take lat/lng and turn it into a string. If use for search, can utilize for radius control.