Oversharing on social media - who, what, where, when, why?

One of the main issues I have with location based social media apps is that to use them, you must publicly tell the world where you are and what you are doing.

Some of my Facebook friends have a subtle way of sharing using Facebook Places so you get an update to say they're checked in at a train station or the airport so I know they're officially off on their holidays. I think that's sweet, but I don't like the fact that everyone else 'checked in' also knows that, or that they come up as a recent check in when you run a search on the venue.

Why is it that when it comes to social media there is no such thing as too much information? I really don't want to know what you had for dinner or every time you go somewhere. So stop clogging up my twitter feed.

Must see at MWC - social media for mobiles

I'm off to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week with work. This is the Big Daddy of mobile events and a great barometer of what's happening in the mobile industry. While I'm there providing PR support for Movidius, the company driving cool new 3D multimedia features in mobile devices, I'll also be keeping an eye out for interesting developments related to mobile and social media.

 

I've never been a heavy Facebook user but having a smartphone has really changed that in recent months. Being able to upload photos and links to Facebook on the go makes it a much more convenient and real time tool and I doubt I'd be using Twitter so much if I couldn't use it any time, anywhere. Who wants to log in from a desktop once or twice a day and catch up on hundreds (or thousands) of tweets?

 

 

 

At Mobile World Congress, I'll be keeping an eye out for any announcements about social media apps for portable devices. A whole list of social media companies are on the list of attendees and the press list is padded out with both traditional media and Twitter savvy bloggers. I'm also hoping to hear more about improvements to positioning technologies and improved multimedia features which I believe will have a huge impact on the effectiveness of Facebook Places, Facebook deals and other location based social media apps such as FourSquare, Gowalla et al.

 

Everyone tells me MWC is a great show so I'm very excited to go along and see it for myself. Oh, and Barcelona's not bad either... Bring on La Fira!

3 reasons why location based marketing apps fail to live up to the hype

Location based marketing apps are consistently hyped as 'the next big thing' but there are three main reasons why they have so far failed to live up to the hype.

1) 30% of the time my phone 'cannot find current location'
Trying to get around in London involves dipping in and out of mobile coverage and more often than not, the time I really need to know where I'm going is the time my HTC refuses to cooperate so I don't see this proving very effective for regular check-ins.

2) There's not enough incentive for me to share my personal information

I don't have to tell you where I'm going or who I'm with. My personal data comes at a premium and I'm not prepared to share it with everyone who can access my online network just so I can be called 'mayor'.

3) Location based marketing is still the poor cousin of social networking apps

FourSquare issued a lovley infographic this week proudly claiming 3400% growth in 2010 - http://foursquare.com/2010infographic. But look at the small print. That's about 6 million users worldwide so I think I'll hang on just a bit longer until I get a personal recommendation from a social media savvy friend before I believe the hype.

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.