Foursquare: Where Are Location Sites Taking Us?

Where's the craze for location sites like Foursquare taking us?

By Dan Fletcher Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010
    • Peter Arkle for TIME

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    "We're thinking about how we can provide value beyond just the check-in itself," says Gowalla co-founder Josh Williams. "Sharing photographs, telling stories about a given location or whether someone's had a romantic date there — that's where things get interesting."

    Maybe. Maybe not. I'm a big fan of social media, and I've tried off and on this year to force myself into the habit of updating my whereabouts, but I can't get into it. Part of this is just that my life isn't all that exciting; if there were a Staying In or a Netflixing Alone badge, I would have earned it long ago. But part of it is that I don't see the benefits yet. It's a bit too much like having a pint-size version of my mother in my pocket, constantly prodding me for updates. Where are you going? Who are you with? How late were you out?

    All this disclosure carries with it some security concerns too. In February a small team of developers launched a site called PleaseRobMe.com highlighting the stupidity of users who link their every movement on Foursquare to their publicly available Twitter profiles, essentially broadcasting their comings and goings for anyone to see. That site was taken down after the founders said their point had been made. But other security hounds have since started ICanStalkU.com which shows how people can be tracked down on the basis of location data attached (sometimes unwittingly) to photos posted on Twitter that were taken with smart phones.

    Both Crowley and Williams point out that there's no way for either Foursquare or Gowalla to know your whereabouts unless you share it by checking in. But if you're foolish enough to input your home address so you can be the mayor of your bathroom, your info becomes part of Foursquare's publicly available directory of places, despite the fact that location services recommend against domicile check-ins.

    Although Foursquare includes an option called Off the Grid that lets you earn frequent-user perks without disclosing your movements to fellow members, the site is hoping — particularly now that Facebook and Twitter have entered the location game — that more users will get comfortable with the idea of sharing their whereabouts. "There's a certain level of paranoia out there," says Supermayor Long, who notes that he curates his Foursquare friends carefully and understands that location sharing carries some risk of getting stalked or robbed. "But until it happens to me, I'm not worried."

    This article originally appeared in the September 6, 2010 issue of Time magazine.

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