I didn’t think that I use or have much of an interest in
location based platforms. But, after
realizing that I actually do search for locations and restaurants when I am
traveling or unfamiliar with my surroundings, I had to have a change of heart. I do refer to Yelp when wanting a review on a
location based restaurant, hotel or store.
Yelp has been one of the bigger
location based networks and became more popular with its iPhone app, which introduced
several new features, the biggest being the ability to check-in to venues.
All the information I found concerning location based
platforms referred to Foursquare, the newer app Swarm and Facebook. Foursquare announced that they are splitting
their service into two different apps.
One that focuses on local recommendations, and the other, called “Swarm” that has check-in options and can find users friends that
may be nearby. Foursquare decided to
make this change based on the needs of users, where they found that most users
rely on the app for primarily those two purposes.
Facebook has also made an announcement that it will
“separate in-app messaging from its official iOS and Android apps and require
users to download Messenger to chat with friends.” This is an app that I do use, and I will need
to pay attention as to when it’s time to download Messenger before the service
in Facebook disappears. I don’t know
that Messenger is necessarily location based—but I may be wrong.
Foursquare isn’t the only app that uses location
sharing. Twitter has tried a feature
that lets you see tweets from people near your location. A new app called Cloak can show where your friends are located so you can actually
avoid them. I’m not so sure these people
would be considered your “friends” if you are using this app for that
purpose.
Because I have never used location based platforms for the
purpose of finding friends’ locations, I don’t see as much value in it. I
typically don’t like to “allow” when my location is asked for on social
media. It seems like an unwanted invasion
of my privacy. I do realize that
ignorance is bliss however, and maybe if I had a need for this service or
realized the value of it, I may be more appreciative. I have learned much more about it while
researching for my blog.
Sources:
Sherri, I had the same mindset about location based settings when I first was asked if I wanted to turn them on and like you I warmed up to the idea. I also like how you pointed out that swarm and foursquare are now two different apps. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI liked that you mentioned Yelp as one of the major location based players. I felt Yelp and Foursquare set the standard for other social media to live up to. I also agree that is sometimes makes me feel uneasy to share my location on social media or the web. Nice article!
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