Where are your friends at? Use location-based services to find them

By Thomas Schoerner Aug 1, 2010, 12:16 GMT

Berlin - 'We're headed to the movies' or 'I'm looking forward to dinner at the Greek restaurant tonight' are just examples of some of the messages flitting back and forth on the average online social network as people share every twist and turn of their day.

But the newest trend - geotagging or location based services - will mean that one's friends will never have to ask about one's whereabouts. The services will let people know exactly where their friends are.

'Geotagging is the latest trend in social networking,' explains Jan Kroemer, an editor at Social Media Magazin in Germany. 'New services seem to be popping up every day.' Social networking pioneers like Facebook or Twitter are seeing competition in this area from geotagging newbies like Foursquare, Gowalla or Friendticker.

'Foursquare's service is especially popular: a mix of social community, city tour and friend finder,' says Christine Fassnacht of BITKOM, a German industry association. More than a million users have signed on since the company was founded in March 2009.

'For comparison's sake, Twitter needed two years to reach that number,' says Kroemer.

Services like Foursquare let users recommend locations or arrange meetings. 'For example, people can use geosocial networks to find the closest concert, restaurant or popular club,' he explains. Or, on a more basic level, 'You can just look to see where your friends are.'

Users of Foursquare and Gowalla must actively use a smartphone to post their location: 'checking in' it's called. Using a mobile phone app, users access a website where they tell their community about their location. That spot is then viewable on a map.

The draw is in the special features, says Kroemer. 'Users can also post their opinions or leave additional information about places like bars or a museum.'

'Location-based networks are often used like games,' explains Fassnacht. 'Users can gather points with Foursquare and win virtual badges. That, of course, boosts one's profile.' Other gimmicks, like prizes or honorary titles, are designed to encourage users to keep logging back on.

If regularly checking in is too much of a hassle, then there are other options. 'Other networks update your location automatically by using the GPS data of the mobile device or the position of the user's mobile in relation to the signal from mobile phone towers,' says Kroemer.

That's the option favoured by Google's Latitude. But users have control over the way their location is viewed online, says Stefan Keuchel of Google in Germany. 'You can provide the exact location, just the city where you are, or make an entry.'

Industry insiders are anxiously awaiting the new localisation feature of industry leader Facebook. So far the company, which has half a billion members, has been keeping news about the service to itself.

'If just a small portion of their members use the geotagging function, then it could be a big step toward a final breakthrough for the technology,' predicts Kroemer. It would also put major pressure on the competition.