Are location-based social networks privacy disasters waiting to happen? Or are the supposed "dangers" simply being overhyped by those without a thorough understanding of what these new networks can and cannot do? Today, these questions are the subject of a serious debate among early adopters - the group of people who are first to sign up for and try out the latest technology innovations, testing everything from iPads to mobile apps.
There are currently a number of location-based social networks clamoring for your attention, including earlier contenders like Loopt and Brightkite as well as the later to arrive game-based networks like Foursquare and Gowalla. Even user review site Yelp is getting in on the action. So is Google. And so is Facebook, apparently.
But is sharing your location with your online "friends" asking for trouble?
Please Rob Me? OK! Says Burglar
Not too long ago, a social experiment called PleaseRobMe launched, displaying the aggregated real-time updates from Foursquare users who used the service's social sharing feature to broadcast their updates publicly on Twitter. Although that site has since been shuttered, the point they were trying to make still resonates: sharing your physical location with a public network is a dangerous and really dumb idea.
Want more examples? How about the story of the Twitter user who broadcast his vacation only to find his house robbed when he came home. Or more recently, a women's Facebook status update alerted a burglar that her home was empty and ready to be robbed. (The thief got away with $10,000 in stolen goods).
Social Networks and Privacy
However, the above incidents take place on a somewhat public stage. (The Facebook woman, for instance, had collected around 600 friends - surely not all of them were truly personal contacts?)
The new mobile social networking services allow for a bit more privacy. On these networks, you can control who you "friend" and, in some cases, who can see your exact location. Brightkite, for example, lets you choose to share updates with either just friends or with everyone. Foursquare lets you check in to locations "off the grid," meaning checking in privately without letting your friends know where they can find you.
Redefining Friend
Unfortunately, the issue with all these networks comes down to how someone defines the word "friend." Ever since the days of MySpace, it seems the goal has been to accumulate the most friends. This mindset has carried over to many other social networks, including Twitter, the social aggregator FriendFeed and Google Buzz, all of which publicly track and expose how many people follow you, an indication of popularity...and who doesn't want to be popular?
The truth is, an online friend may or may not be worthy of the same level of trust as someone you know in real life. Sure, they might be - in fact, odds are they are lovely people - but without a history of interaction that extends beyond sharing a few links and comments on Twitter, you can't possibly know that for sure.
This article is right on. There seems to be great promise in location-aware apps, but I agree that it requires a re-definition of what is a "friend". Looking forward to the future of these apps. Love the "please rob me app". Can't help but thinking the same thing.
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