I missed “Real Time Communications & Education” plus a talk from Jessica Gottlieb so I could head out to the schmooze room to meet Hank Wasiak. But, now it’s…
Where Am I? How Location Changes Everything – moderated by C.C. Chapman, Creative Director, Campfire (@cc_chapman) and featuring representatives from FourSquare, GoWalla, and GyPSii.
Major cheers from the crowd for all of the people and services on this panel.
Right into privacy concerns! Josh Williams (@jw), Founder of Gowalla, needing to limit who you are sharing with depending on the context. Dennis Crowley (@dens), co-founder of Foursquare, people making the privacy complaint aren’t using the tools. We give you all of those options.
Unspoken subtext – the service that most quickly learns how to manage that context-based sharing for you is going to ultimately come out on top of the scramble for location-based app supremacy.
Moderator: “But, where is the line going to be drawn in the future?”
Shane Lennon (@redshane), GyPSii, people are going to give away privacy and data in exchange for things as simple as coupons. Dennis talking about how the game aspect takes the edge off of exchanging data – you’re getting points. Heavy emphasis from all three that people will give elements of privacy away if it’s transactional.
Dennis: “It’s not a game, it’s a utility. … Use game mechanics to hold their hand through the process … of changing the way people interact with space in the physical world.”
Josh: People wanted a passport, a record of the places they were going to and interacting with. As opposed to Shane, who is focusing more on connections between people. GyPSii is prevalent in the Chinese market, using it more for rewards than gaming. But, people aren’t checking in – just indexing and connecting. Different cultures want to interact with locations in different ways.
Will sharing location data become inherent – something we’re no longer concerned with or afraid of? Josh: The checkin is not what’s interesting. It’s what you give back to the user on the screen after the check-in.
What’s the coolest user-originated thing that’s happened on your platform?
Dennis: People had FourSquare day on 4/16!
Shane: A flashmob in Shanghai – totally different than a stateside flashmob.
Josh: In Austin [@sxsw] a truck gave away a free taco to people who checked in. People bought friends, the line grew. For every taco they gave away they sold twelve. “Kind of flash-mobbing their own truck.”
Again, the panel is played off just as it’s getting awesome. Some dissent in my area about whether panels ought to have another five minutes.