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Social media provides real-time access to the who, what, and when. Geolocation now provides the “where” in real time. Web meet World; World meet Web.
Geolocation will become a huge market in the coming years, much like social media itself. There are more than a dozen companies in the space already, and it seems like every tenth post on TechCrunch lately is about geolocation: Facebook vs. Foursquare, Gowalla, GeoAPI, Social Paradox, SimpleGeo, Google, Rally, and this one about Ambient Streams.
Our friend Pete Cashmore of Mashable cited geolocation as one of his top web trends to watch in 2010. In his CNN column he wrote that “location is not about any singular service; rather, it’s a new layer of the Web. Soon, our whereabouts may optionally be appended to every Tweet, blog comment, photo or video we post.” This is big. But it’s not just about broadcasting our whereabouts. It’s about the data and how valuable that can be for everyone.
To expand on Pete’s description, geolocation is content that has been tagged with geographic data such as GPS coordinates or a street address. This can be a video, Tweet, blog post, news story, restaurant review, or an entire lifestream. It is ultimately about geospatial awareness. The trend is being driven by location-based social networks like BrightKite, FourSquare, and Gowalla, where you check in to a location, thereby alerting your friends, and possibly take other actions to engage with that location such as posting a photo or writing a review. All of which is generating rich data streams of location-based information. Today there isn’t enough participation to make geolocation broadly useful. But that’s about to change.
Geolocation is a lot like social media in that it requires critical mass for it to be valuable. In other words, generating value requires a lot of participation. For example, we found Facebook valuable long ago as a marketing channel, but it didn’t become personally useful until this past year when our close friends and family started using it. (They don’t tend to be early tech adopters.) Social media reached a major tipping point in 2009, driven largely by Facebook and Twitter, where there is enough participation and data to make it universally valuable. Today, Facebook accounts for one out of every four pageviews on the Web and Twitter drives more than 10% of the traffic to most major content sites. That’s a lot of participation and a lot of data. Reaching this level took several years for social media. Geolocation, on the other hand, will get there in the next 12 months. This is largely because social media and mobile have paved the way. Which means that by the end of 2010, there will be enough participation and data for geolocation to be universally valuable.
Critical mass in geolocation means several things. Yes, there are privacy issues. They already exist with social media, and they can get much worse with the added layer of location. It may require new security and privacy standards, and we may need ways to easily mask or approximate our location while limiting access to that information. The market will clearly demand this as geolocation approaches critical mass. However, the value of using location-based tools and generating this data outweighs the potential downsides. Because when geolocation reaches critical mass, it will give us unprecedented access to information about the world around us i.e. the world within a certain geographic radius.
Google has done a tremendous job with organizing the world’s information, per its mission, but it lacks the real-time info about everything going on around us (and that is partly why it wants to acquire Yelp). Which is to say every Tweet, blog post, YouTube video, happy hour special, political rally, museum event, live band, car accident, garage sale, restaurant menu, and friend within, say, a quarter-mile radius or 20-mile radius of our current location. Imagine if Ustream broadcasts could be filtered by geographic area (perhaps they already can). We’d be able to see live video happening at bars and events around us, often streaming from people’s iPhones, and decide whether or not it’s worth showing up. We could also cross-reference these video streams with Tweets to get more detail.
When all Web-based information has real-time geographic coordinates and when all of the new, location-specific data being created each moment can be easily accessed, filtered, personalized, and organized (governed by privacy settings, of course), we will have tremendous access to the world around us. We’re confident this will be realized a year from now, if not sooner. And though much of it will originate from Facebook (once it enables geolocation), all location-based data will have value. It’s also quite inevitable that new, geo-based platforms will emerge. It’s essential that this data is open and accessible. If the recent moves by Foursquare and Facebook are any indication, it appears that it will be.
We’ll be covering this space more closely because it’s exciting and because there are clear implications for entrepreneurship, sustainability, and green business.
23 responses so far ↓
1 John Haydon // Dec 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Max – Great post summing up the “where” trend in 2010.
Given the rise of mobile apps AND geo-location, I wonder what we’ll be doing with our laptops?
2 Max Gladwell // Dec 21, 2009 at 4:19 pm
John: I think we’ll still need our laptops to process the sheer volume of data that will be available. Plus, we’ll need a bigger screen to really make use of it. Of course, the forthcoming Mac Tablet should handle this just fine.
3 John Haydon // Dec 21, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I guess my point is that mobile phones will be utilized much more in 2010.
For example:
Local restaurants will know when to tweet out discounts.
Retailers will be able to determine the best location for their stores.
Political protesters will be able to organize much more quickly and effectively.
Tools like @foursquare can allow users to automatically “check-in” to Panera Bread, just by showing up.
Companies like ZipCar will add a location service to their offerings.
The police and fire departments will be able to re-direct crowds easier.
Tweetups will be much more spontaneous.
4 Max Gladwell // Dec 21, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Absolutely. This isn’t possible without a LOT of mobile use.
But the point that I didn’t make too strongly is that you won’t have to participate in geolocation to gain value. Much like with Twitter itself, you don’t have to have an account or Tweet for it to be useful. You can just search it. Likewise, the data created via geolocation by some will be valuable for all, regardless of whether you ever “check in” or make your location known.
5 John Haydon // Dec 21, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Got it. Thanks!
6 Geolocation and social media: new top web trend for 2010? « AgCommons // Dec 22, 2009 at 9:00 am
[...] is an interesting post on the role of geolocation in the social media, as a tool to gain “unprecedented access to [...]
7 EddieStarr // Dec 22, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Transparancy? Absolutely.
I have no shame in showing you that I just want to the little coffee shop down the street, look !! ‘ beep – beep – beep ‘ I just moved a few few away from where I was just standing, and the little blue dot moved on the map with me, remarkable isn’t it! See now no-body is a stalker anymore! Technology has graciously taken the once ardous and time consuming task of knowing exactly where someone is at any given second, transforming us into a “click to know” society.
Even better is geolocating with an app that updates twitter that auto-updates Facebook,
Kill 3 birds with one Click. Just Imagine What This Next Decade Will Bring,, Oh Joy , Right?
8 Interesting Reading #383 – Drugs in the water, year in review, Apple tablet arriving, new solar cells, power of makeup and much more… – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks // Dec 24, 2009 at 4:46 am
[...] You Are Here: Geolocation is the Trend for 2010 – “Geolocation will become a huge market in the coming years, much like social media itself. There are more than a dozen companies in the space already, and it seems like every tenth post on TechCrunch lately is about geolocation: Facebook vs. Foursquare, Gowalla, GeoAPI, Social Paradox, SimpleGeo, Google, Rally, and this one about Ambient Streams….” [...]
9 Wayne Sutton // Dec 24, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I agree, nice summary of the location base apps and where the industry is going in 2010. Yes the location data and what we can do with it along with other social data can provide a great insite to users where business can use that data to market and communicate with by location.
It’s something we’re working on with our new location based startup in NC called TriOut http://tri-out.com . We’re building a community location based app and I’m sure we’re not the only ones who’ll be launching new location based apps in 2010.
I’m now a reader of maxgladwell.com
10 CauseWorld: Geolocation for Good | Max Gladwell // Dec 27, 2009 at 11:02 am
[...] Say You? Turning Winds on How Will the World Change in 2010? Some PredictionsWayne Sutton on You Are Here: Geolocation is the Trend for 2010Interesting Reading #383 – Drugs in the water, year in review, Apple tablet arriving, new [...]
11 Twitter Local Trends: The Dawn of Geospatial Awareness | Max Gladwell // Jan 23, 2010 at 1:44 pm
[...] the noise and filter the fire hose that is Twitter in a very meaningful way. As we discussed in our geolocation trend piece, it contributes to the goal of geospatial awareness i.e. access to a lot of real-time information [...]
12 Geolocation’s utility in social media « BHeath PR // Jan 25, 2010 at 3:24 pm
[...] he says becomes the norm, then these services might phase out. Another issue, which Max Gladwell brings up, is [...]
13 GreenBusinesses.com – 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World // Jul 27, 2010 at 8:38 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
14 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | MomentFeed // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:01 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
15 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World #10Ways | Wayne Sutton - location-based services, gadgets, marketing, social media, iPhone & iPad // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:02 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
16 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | Modern Eco Homes // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:22 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
17 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | Free PLR Ebook // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:45 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
18 Geolocation: Technology for Changing the World? | Sustainablog // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:58 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
19 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | Andy Sternberg's blog // Jul 27, 2010 at 10:18 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
20 SMEDIAM – The Social Media Channel for Growing Your Business Online » 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World // Jul 27, 2010 at 11:24 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are #10Ways: 1. Checking in for Good: If Gowalla and Foursquare have [...]
21 10 Ways Geolocation Is Changing the World | EcoSalon: Organic Green Fashion, Design, Food, Tech, Travel, Culture, Pets and Lifestyle // Jul 27, 2010 at 12:33 pm
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
22 the 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | Modern Soapbox // Jul 27, 2010 at 10:48 pm
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
23 10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World | Your Daily Thread - YDT // Jul 29, 2010 at 9:48 am
[...] most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are [...]
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