Don’t Rob Me, I’m Just Checking In…….
March 14, 2010 · Leave a Comment · Edit This
Social Media Privacy Panel at NMC- Michelle Beckham, DG Hollums, Daniel Johnson, Jr. photo credit: Christiaan Todd Photography
Life on the Grid:
Discussions on Privacy all seem to be the rage right now. Thinking that this is due to the roll-out of Geo-location apps like Gowalla and Foursquare (1 yr old) and the introduction of geo-loca capabilities currently with Twitter and soon to be with Facebook next month. I sense that similar questions will arise from the unitiated as they did with Twitter.
“Why do I care what Adam had for lunch??”
will turn into,
“Why do I care where Adam went to lunch?!!”
Well from my perspective, there are a lot of great reasons to care. Using Foursquare as an example, I see the following benefits:
- Keeping tabs on where your friends are
- Knowing who the tech-savvy people are when you arrive at a venue (check in list will show this)
- The venue knowing that you are on-site or nearby and having the capability to offer you a discount
- The gaming aspect that strikes at the heart of all us competitive Type A personalities (unlock badges, awards, become Mayor, etc.)
- The stalker aspect- ability to glean info about friends that you might not have known (for example, who was out into the wee hours…)
I participated in a panel on Internet Privacy yesterday at the New Media Cincinnati 2nd Saturday Event and Foursquare was prominently discussed. Check out the Live Stream HERE. I personally had been holding off on all of the fun because I had concerns about privacy issues. After reading up on the applications and attending an American Marketing Association meeting in which Foursquare and Gowalla were featured, I came to realize that this cool tool offers a hot bed of marketing opportunities to the venues who jump on the bandwagon. By the way, Starbucks just announced that they are partnering with Foursquare which should help to nudge the rest of the retail world into joining the party.
I joined Foursquare about 24 hours ago and am really liking what I see. Will continue to update this blog with my experiences as I make my way through all of the settings and repercussions that ensue based on my choices. And for folks who know about the Please Rob Me. com site- I will NOT be checking in/out of my home.
For the record, I have an alarm system and a killer watch-dog, so keep on going when you hit my ‘hood……..
Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2010
2 comments:
I'm treading through Foursquare very carefully, not adding people at will as I may have done with other social networking tools. My personal approach is one where I carefully consider the potential to actually meet someone I'm connected to.
Thanks Daniel for your insight. I truly believe this is a tool that one needs to think carefully about especially with regard to adding "friends" and the settings for push-outs to social media sites like Twitter & Facebook. Still a huge fan of the marketing capabilities from a business perspective.
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