Beyond has published some research showing that geolocal social tools — check-in tool, specifically — haven’t reached a critical mass of use. It seems that sticking point is privacy concerns. My sense is that they haven’t got the social interaction right. People seldom want to communicate directly with strangers, but participatory observation — which is how the Color photosharing app works — is a different story. Participatory observation — like seeing someone in a public place — is a natural consequence of existing in the physical world. I can observe others, and they can observe me, and we are both in a situation where we can be aware of others seeing us. But participatory observation is limited by the physics of shared public spaces. And bounded by memory: the memories of those who observed me when I was there, in that park, restaurant, or airport. These issues are also linked to social density: certain kinds of interaction are only interesting when many people are in close proximity, like at a music festival, a bachelor party, or a conference. Just the suggestion that your location could be accessible to non-local people, and possible accessible without a complex and strong set of interpersonal constraints, leads to the conclusion that these tools are more trouble for most than they are worth. At times I want my pals to know where I am, and at other times I only want my lover to know. And at others, I want no one to know, but I would like a record for my own recollection. I think this will require a set of small, very focused apps, scaled to do one sort of geolocal interaction well, rather than one monster check-in app. Like the app Marco, which helps friends find each other on a map. Or an app that lets me leave virtual notes on businesses for others to read. Or an app to receive coupons from various commercial categories: restaurants, bars, clothing stores, food stores, etc. The win in this space might be to build a geolocal platform on which dozens of geolocal apps could be built.
Zoom

Beyond has published some research showing that geolocal social tools — check-in tool, specifically — haven’t reached a critical mass of use. It seems that sticking point is privacy concerns.

My sense is that they haven’t got the social interaction right. People seldom want to communicate directly with strangers, but participatory observation — which is how the Color photosharing app works — is a different story. Participatory observation — like seeing someone in a public place — is a natural consequence of existing in the physical world. I can observe others, and they can observe me, and we are both in a situation where we can be aware of others seeing us. But participatory observation is limited by the physics of shared public spaces. And bounded by memory: the memories of those who observed me when I was there, in that park, restaurant, or airport.

These issues are also linked to social density: certain kinds of interaction are only interesting when many people are in close proximity, like at a music festival, a bachelor party, or a conference.

Just the suggestion that your location could be accessible to non-local people, and possible accessible without a complex and strong set of interpersonal constraints, leads to the conclusion that these tools are more trouble for most than they are worth. At times I want my pals to know where I am, and at other times I only want my lover to know. And at others, I want no one to know, but I would like a record for my own recollection.

I think this will require a set of small, very focused apps, scaled to do one sort of geolocal interaction well, rather than one monster check-in app. Like the app Marco, which helps friends find each other on a map. Or an app that lets me leave virtual notes on businesses for others to read. Or an app to receive coupons from various commercial categories: restaurants, bars, clothing stores, food stores, etc.

The win in this space might be to build a geolocal platform on which dozens of geolocal apps could be built.

(Source: thenextweb.com)