Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2010 > February > 26 > Entry
Honestly, I don’t give a damn where you are
I’m not going to sit here and get all preachy about the unnecessary oversharing of social media. I use Facebook (though my usage is dwindling) and Twitter regularly, and once did the same with Friendster and MySpace. It helps me stay in touch with friends, allowed me to send my first electronic message to the woman who would become my girlfriend and it gives me a platform to disseminate certain of my blogs posts — about which I am sure all my friends are thrilled.
While I have gotten use to the mundane status updates and Tweets (and know I can be guilty of the same), the one thing I have not quite come to accept or tolerate is the “location update.” You know: “So-and-so just checked in to Amy’s Ice Cream, 1012 West 6th Street.” I am not sure how these apps work, and I don’t really understand their value, except to pimp the businesses being mentioned, giving them social currency. Outside of being somewhat obnoxious, it seems they would also give followers or friends a way to track (stalk) your every move. Do we really need that? Is it for people to play coy about wanting to be surrounded by others but not having the nerve to ask for their company? Has the Internet, which turned people into shut-in extroverts, now using mobile power to turn them into awkward public extroverts? Am I just a grumpy ol’ late adopter?
Whatever the case, I’m not so intolerant that I have de-friended (Facebook) or stopped following people (Twitter) the way some of my friends have. But I am growing close.
Well, if the techie soothsayers are right, there’s a possibility that I’m going to have a lot fewer friends or folks I am following. According to MG Siegler at TechCrunch, “location will be this year’s Twitter at SXSW.” Great.
From the post:
Based on what I’ve been hearing, basically at the major players in the location-based space have big things planned for this year’s SXSW. Foursquare hopes to have a new, completely overhauled version of its iPhone app ready for the event this year. They are also likely to have a huge batch of new badges for people to collect throughout the week. Meanwhile, Gowalla has a large event of its own, complete with special VIP access if you use the service throughout the conference. The SXSW conference is also highlighting the Austin-based Gowalla as a key tool on its own pages. A newer startup, Plancast (started by TechCrunch alum Mark Hendrickson ? think “Foursquare For The Future”), has already put together a helpful unofficial SXSW guide surrounding events during the conference (and actually events for those who aren’t attending too). They also hope to have their iPhone app ready in time for the conference.Meanwhile, both Twitter’s and SimpleGeo’s plans are still largely unknown at this point, but both are planning big things, we hear. Twitter could use the event to launch its ad platform, and CEO Evan Williams is giving the keynote on Monday.And then, of course, there is Facebook. While they’re sniffing around Loopt right now, could they use the conference to talk a bit more about their location plans?
Of course, for all my bluster, just as I reluctantly came to Twitter and Facebook years after their launch, I am sure I will end up eventually being sucked into this nonsense. But, I hope not. In fact, this is it. “I’m talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you I DO NOT.”
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By meanrachel
February 26, 2010 11:03 AM | Link to this
Sorry pal. You’ll get sucked in. Foursquare and Gowalla are annoying - yes. They’re self-aggrandizing - yes. But so is blogging, so is FB, so is Twitter, so is texting, so is everything that comes spitting out of an iPhone. It hasn’t stopped you or me before, it’s not going to stop us now.
By sxsw vet
February 26, 2010 11:26 AM | Link to this
All these applications are going to be completely useless when AT&T doesn’t have enough towers and iPhones are unusable. I also expect to get the over-capacity Twitter whale on a daily basis.
By Josh Williams
February 26, 2010 1:38 PM | Link to this
Matthew, we should hang out sometime. Perhaps I can give you some insight on where we believe the value in services like Gowalla is heading. I agree that mass tweets of I’m at Emo’s are of little value, but you shouldn’t throw the baby out because of oversharing.
Happy to sit down during SXSW or afterwards.
By jimmycity
February 27, 2010 11:04 PM | Link to this
I dropped Facebook and Twitter over a year ago. Stupid wastes of my time.