Geolocation in the hot seat
With everything from Twitter and Facebook to Foursquare and Gowalla offering ways to identify yourself online, geolocation has become a hot item on the web lately. And why not? Local search is growing, and more and more applications are finding new ways to turn the World Wide Web into the ‘Backyard Web.’
The implications for advertising are amazing. From Brightkite using augmented reality to serve up ads to Foursquare offering discounts when you check in at certain venues, knowing someone’s location gives you a huge amount of leverage when trying to figure out whom you should market to (and how you should do it).
But in spite of most location-based services’ desire to allow users to select their own privacy restrictions, the space is so new that best practices are still being established. And now Congress is stepping in to try and sort through it.
If you work in the local search field, you’ll definitely be affected in some way by the results of these hearings. We’ll keep you updated with any new developments.
Kipp
Tags: geolocation, legislation, local online advertising, local search, social networking
