Trumblog

The following is a liveblog of a panel discussion with Ryan Sarver,  Sam Altman, Tina q Unterlaender, Clara Shih and Steve Lee on geolocation, social networks, privacy and monitization.  The panel was excellent with great back and forth, insight into issues around geolocation and social networks and the future of this functionality.  The panel took place at South by Southwest on March 15, 2010.

Lifegraph: sum of all places that you have been.

Within a year or so most apps will have a geolocation element

Great app for Android will track your commuting history and nudge you for shorter commute times.

Anonymous geolocation does not exist. Data is uniquely identifiable

Geolocation data must be opt-in for privacy reason.

Transparency & control critical to geolocation & privacy

Geolocation and relevancy is key. Starbucks app buzzes when near a store, but what if I don’t like coffee?

Active geolocation (Foursquare), passive (Latitude), future is a hybrid of the 2

Checkins have no inherent value, it’s what you do with the data

Used to be “next year is year of location” now every year is

W3C Geolocation spec API has been huge

Passive utility of geolocation with big value – knowns when you are coming home & turns on the heat

Smart phone penetration key driver to geolocation adoption

Privacy gaff will hamper major impact of adoption of geolocation

Q: Future of geolocation? Silence… Uh oh.

Lee and Altman agree loaning out profile for set period of time is coming for social networks and geolocation

Altman: expects that Facebook will become the aggregator for all geolocation data

Hedge funds are calling for data on what stores people are shopping at.

Integration of geolocation with key phone functionality will drive usage.

Altman: massive consolidation of geolocation apps in 9 mos

Lee: Consolidation of geolocation apps countered by addition of functionality to all apps

Location based coupons via geolocation mostly for small businesses and HUGE ROI

Big brands using geolocation for loyalty card style marketing

YES, I’d use it. RT @luckylou Asked unified LBS login app Q to the panelists & they seemed to like it. Think I will develop it

The following video coda shows checkins at SXSWi 2010 using a variety of different services and superimposed over a map of Austin and showing times when the checkins took place.