First, we talked about Blippy, a Twitter-esque site that allows users to post just about anything they charge to a credit card to the site for all to see. Then we looked at Shoeboxed, a monthly service that scans and stores copies of your important receipts on their website. Now, for the epic conclusion in our Stalker’s Paradise trilogy, we look at location sharing sites.
Location sharing sites exist for the express purpose of pinpointing a person’s location whenever they access the service. Now, I’m not talking about those cell phones for kids that have a GPS attached to them so little Susie won’t get lost in the mall again; I’m referring to sites like Gowalla and Foursquare, and even Facebook and Google.
Okay, seriously, who comes up with these names?
Let’s start with Gowalla and Foursquare. Both are generally considered to be the pioneers of location-based social networking. Like other social sites, both of these pages allow users to sign up, import contacts from their email or Facebook/Twitter accounts, and start sharing status updates. What these two bring to the table is allowing users to “check in” and update their exact location at any given time.
How it works
Say you’re in LA for the weekend and you’re a Foursquare user. You check in at the Hilton (where a pot of coffee cost me 28.00), both literally and digitally, and then decide you’re in the mood for Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. You find your way to the eatery, and “check in” with Foursquare to let it know you’re there. Now all your friends on the site – and Facebook or Twitter if you link your accounts – know exactly where you are with a handy GPS map.
Gowalla holds the same basic concept, but places emphasis on games you can play in order to win digital trophies. Similar to video game achievements, you can unlock these special virtual pins for visiting certain locations a set number of times, like checking in at 10 different bars to win a bar hopping pin or 10 Mexican restaurants to win the “Lucha Libre pin.” Foursquare offers similar badges, but chooses to focus more on the social aspect then the gaming side.
What happens when the big boys come out to play
If you’re sitting there saying to yourself, “I’ve never even heard of either of these, so why should this matter to me?” you certainly aren’t alone. Between the two of them, Gowalla and Foursquare have yet to break the one million member mark which, in the social networking world, makes them both relatively small towns compared to a megalopolis like Facebook.
And now I’m reading that Facebook themselves are thinking of breaking into the location sharing scene in a big way. That’s more than 400 million people (Facebook’s user base according to that NYTimes article) that can now update where they are whenever they post and see where others are as well.
Now no one is safe
There was a time when all a Terminator could do to find Sarah Connor was check all the phone listings for someone with that name and visit them individually until he found the right one. That was in the 80s.
If the Terminator came back in time today to try and stalk Sarah Connor, all he’d need to do was key into her Twitter account to see she was going out to dinner, check her Foursquare profile to see where she’s eating, meet her there, and catch up on old times. Or he could check her location on Facebook and surprise her when she gets home.
Thankfully, we don’t (yet) live in a world of advanced killer robots from the future, so we don’t have to worry about any surprises there. We do, however, have to deal with something almost as dangerous: Identity theft.
My final thoughts
Now, I don’t mean to stand on a soapbox and completely decry social networking as a whole. I think sites like Facebook are great for getting back in and staying in touch with friends both new and old. I think Twitter is a great business tool. But there comes a point where voyeurism just goes way too far. In a time when everyone and their kitchen sink is trying to hold onto every financial asset they can, sharing your credit card purchases, mailing out your receipts, or letting the world know every time you step out of your house is just taking it too far.
Of course, you can always choose to be a virtual shut-in and stay away from social networking completely, but anyone who does feel like stepping out into the web’s spotlight should at least think twice about how far into the limelight they’re willing to go.
What do you think? Are any of these sites worth your time? Am I being unjustifiably paranoid? We just think there's a little irony in the fact that identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the world, and we're sharing more information than ever before. Let me know your thoughts on social networking and what it means to you.
PS. And don’t forget to Stalk follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 
Other articles of interest:
- Our thoughts on Blippy
- Shoebox
- Stop dreaming and start fixing your credit
- Legal credit repair strategies
- credit repair reviews
