The Downside of Geolocation in Social Media

I was talking with an attorney who specializes in social media issues. She made a very interesting point about some of the downsides of different gelocation social media tools, such as Google Latitude or Brightkite.

I recently joined Google Latitude, a tool that will find your location and throw it up for all of your friends to see. Brightkite works in a similar manner, allowing a user to broadcast his or her location to other Brightkite users or via Twitter.

This is great if you’re a very sociable person and want all your friends, acquaintances, and even strangers to know where you are at all times (on the downside, if you’re the target of an extensive manhunt, this could work against you).

You set up your account to automatically check your laptop, BlackBerry, or iPhone for your location and then beam it to Brightkite for everyone to see. Your Twitter client and other apps can also tap into your phone’s GPS function and update your location any time you send a tweet, search Google Maps, or even make a phone call. Then, if your friends want to find you, they know you’re at your favorite restaurant, coffee shop, or watering hole.

But what about if you need to keep that information private, say, if you’re a salesperson who makes a lot of client calls?

Now this previously helpful service may actually be hurting you.

Let’s say you work in the poultry feeding equipment business (an industry I was intimately acquainted with for 10 years), and you visit Springdale, Arkansas. There’s only one company in Springdale of any importance to a poultry guy: Tyson Chicken.

Your geo-location app service will helpfully update all your Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and other Brightkite/Latitude users that you’re in Springdale.

“Oh look,” says your competitor upon seeing your tweet/status update/Latitude update. “Bob’s in Sprindgdale. I’ll bet he’s visiting Tyson. I think we need to pay them a visit next week.” (If you’re not following your competitor, you’re missing out on a wealth of information.)

So your competitor shows up at Tyson with new pricing, swag, and other ways to win their business, or to at least beat you. Now you have to work twice as hard to overcome their sneakiness — assuming you even know they’ve been there.

This doesn’t mean we’re saying you should not use geolocation services. Just like everything else with social media, be careful. Use your head, and know when it’s safe and prudent to give out personal or company information.

• Fon’t give out information you don’t want your competitors to have — new patent, government approval on a product, client visits, etc.
• If you’re going on vacation, don’t tell people you’re going.
• Don’t set Brightkite or Latitude to automatically update your location; pick and choose when you update your location.
• Don’t put too much information in your email autoresponder. Some people will put their entire itinerary into their auto response. We know one guy who used to get great information from competitors any time he emailed them.
• Never tweet that you’re at your bank. You’ve just connected two dots: your identity and your financial institution.
• Disable all the apps on your smart phone that use GPS, or at least set them up to manual update. Your Twitter client may tap into your phone’s GPS and tell everyone where you are. Most people are blissfully unaware that their cell phones are giving out this information.
• Create a list of Thou Shalt Not topics for your company, office, or yourself. Don’t mention those things at all ever.

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