Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with James and Serena about Geotagging (adding a geographical stamp to your blog posts, tweets or just shouting out your location just for the sake of it).
I'm increasingly using Geotagging services but there's no doubt this is purely due to an increasing push of Geotagging within consumer software. iPhone 2.0 features it heavily, as do lots of the 3rd party applications for it. BrightKite, the Geotaggging social network site/service, is (as you would expect) based on the very idea of telling people where you are at any given time.
Most recently I've enjoyed the instant replies via the iPhone Twitter app, Twinkle, when otherwise enraged at Channel 7s appalling Olympic coverage. In the multiple instances during the games where this abomination of a TV station cut swathes through the mens basketball coverage, I happened across several nearby Sydneysiders who were experiencing similar pain. Together, we didn't prevent Channel 7 killing the games, but it did provide a collective base of people having the same experience. This seems important to note. I find it mildly compelling. I don't know why.
And gathering a head of steam in the US there's a new Geotag service for the iPhone called Loopt (http://www.loopt.com/) which will buzz you everytime you're near one of your friends or they happen to be near to you (note to the security-sellers - this is an opt-in service). Cool, but how likely is this?
As we all agreed yesterday, the principles of all of these services seem to be the chance, the very, very slim chance, of some random meeting or close shave being fortuitous in some way. Of bumping into someone via a clash of Geotags, which result is some sort of serendipitous event. Is that it, or am I missing something?
While I do find the idea interesting, I wonder about the reality. How many times is something going to happen? Maybe it's the suite of services now available. For example, if you know someone one who isn't on Twitter, but you can see from their Geotagged location gadget that they're actually two rows behind you, is that one of the scenarios in mind?
I'm riffing here, I know, but is it worth the effort based on the number of times something is likely to happen. That's my question. Geotagging photos I can understand. But with people... Do we all flashmob the Channel 7s of the world as and when the opportunity presents itself?
After I shout "I am HERE!", what happens next?
Recent Comments