Too lazy for location aware apps

I still have my doubts about location aware apps such as FourSquare and Facebook Places. I don't feel the need to tell my online network of friends where I am - the important ones who want to hear where I've been are usually with me! Perhaps I'm a bit old fashioned but I still think it's rude to constantly have a mobile phone out when I'm with other people and becoming 'mayor' of a favourite bar, coffee shop, restaurant or shop is not quite incentive enough.

I was also interested to read Alan Wolk's recent post on The Toad Stool - http://bit.ly/eUN4js - querying if location based services such as FourSquare check need to be real time. While today's smartphones don't have the battery power to have always on GPS to track movement to allow 'check in' at a later stage of the day, I think there must be a way to use these location based apps to better advantage for businesses and personal users.

I see the benefit of localised applications for recommendations and special offers from a trusted network of users who gain credibility through recommendations and suggestions but telling everyone where I am every minute of every day is just plain over sharing.

I'm a late adopter to all social media trends - Hotmail IM, Bebo, Facebook, Gmail chat and Twitter so far. Figures put the number of users between 5 and 8% of adults online but after much hype in 2010, this is expected to jump significantly in 2011. Until the squirrel living out my back garden learns how to use a smartphone and gets on to FourSquare to become Mayor of my London flat, I'm still queen of my castle and that's enough for me.