Geosocial Networking

The Next Phase in Social Media?

If you haven't yet heard of geosocial networking, you're not alone. Geosocial networking is a term that has been coined to describe location-based online social media applications. At the most basic level, geosocial applications allow you to share information on where you are with your chosen contact list. By sharing your location, geosocial networkers can access reviews to nearby restaurants, see the names of friends in the area, view recommended local activities, and more. Picture yourself at a football game with 60,000 other people. If you are using a geosocial tool, you would know if any of your close friends are also at the game, you could then initiate social contact, communicate directly with them, and take advantage of a targeted offer from a network sponsor at a local restaurant. The goal of geosocial networking is to connect users to local people and events that match their interests. Some current social network providers like Facebook or Twitter offer a form of geosocial networking by having users submit their location. Other mobile applications use cell phone tracking to plot locations in "real time". Startups like Foursquare and Gowalla encourage members to "check-in" at their location and then broadcast their location to others. So what's the big deal? Many think some type of geosocial networking will be the next phase of social networking replacing or enhancing tools like Twitter and Facebook. Why? It allows advertisers and companies to track and reward customer loyalty. For example, Foursquare encourages businesses to give special discounts to people who check-in frequently and Foursquare also encourages people to frequent businesses that reward Foursquare users. More importantly, geosocial networking allows people to use their online technologies to connect with friends and events in the real world in real time. The bad news is that you must be willing to give up a level of privacy to share your location within the network. This could lead to some very awkward moments if you owe someone money or break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Will it be the next "big thing"? Only time will tell.