Taking Your Online Social Network Into the Streets

Finding a Balance

Location-based social networks offer a number of potential benefits, but at the cost of privacy. Because these services are based upon the utilization of user's location, however, most users will likely at least consider the impact they may have on privacy before signing up. For this reason, the privacy concerns are somewhat less alarming than those presented by other services that record and use users location in a more clandestine manner, such as Sprint's sharing of customer information. As for location-based social networks, if their use actually result in more people engaging in face-to-face communication, perhaps that benefit will outweigh the privacy cost.