Facebook Working on Mobile Location Tracking App

According to an article in Bloomberg, Facebook is working on a mobile location tracking app in its continued efforts to monetize its mobile user base.

Some of you may already be aware that Facebook records the GPS coordinates of its users when they do things like post status updates on their mobile device or check in at a location. The app they're currently developing goes further. It tracks a user's location in the background, all the time, in order to provide a host of targeted ads, offers, information on relevant events, and to let you know when your friends are nearby.

Now, I understand Facebook's desire to monetize their monstrous user base. And I understand the demand from Wall Street analysts that it does something on the mobile frontier. But, in all seriousness...does anyone actually want this sort of big brother non-sense on their smart phone?

Frankly, I don't. And, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

Without the proper incentive to use an app like this, I don't see why anyone would want to use it. Or at least, why anyone would want to use it over any considerable period of time. And I struggle to see how its ability to show me targeted location-based ads and alerts when my friends are nearby would work as an incentive. I always struggle with the idea that I somehow should need to have my phone alert me when my friends are around. If anything, when I want to see my friends I reach out to them, like a normal person. There is no need to keep tabs on them. Nor do I want people knowing where I am all the time. Sometimes I just want to be left alone. Is that so insane?

Furthermore, it isn't as though this is app would be breaking any new ground. Apps like Gowalla have already come and gone. Foursquare, which is entirely check-in oriented, might be gone before the end of the year. Highlight,another mobile app in this space, has similar features and has been billed as a "people discovery app." It's also been called a "privacy nightmare."

The problem, as I see it, is that Facebook and other apps in the geo-location space make an assumption that people want to be tracked and want to be found at all times. They seem to assume that we want to meet strangers based upon similar Facebook or related profiles. And lastly, that we want event and restaurant recommendations based on Facebook likes. Despite what Facebook and other geo-location mobile companies might want to believe, we are not drones and are just fine doing these things on our own. We don't need Big Brother tracking our every move to do these things for us.

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Would anyone here actually use this app? How might Facebook monetize its mobile users? Is there any way to effectively monetize its mobile user base?

 

No way I will use it. Again, don't think its that big of a deal for people in Developed countries, but in countries with high risk of kidnapping/extorsion, this is a huge issue.

I like my privacy and if I find out that FB is tracking my location at all times, FB mobile will be gone from my phone.

 

Google already follows you whereever you go on Android. It's how Google Now is so incredibly awesome.

But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that assclown of a company, Facebook, track me.

 
inkybinky:
Google already follows you whereever you go on Android. It's how Google Now is so incredibly awesome.

But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that assclown of a company, Facebook, track me.

Valid point. Though, Google Now is like Siri, right? So, you've got to actually ask it something in order for it to tell you something. And, you can always turn off location services, right?

 
Best Response
TheKing:
inkybinky:
Google already follows you whereever you go on Android. It's how Google Now is so incredibly awesome.

But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that assclown of a company, Facebook, track me.

Valid point. Though, Google Now is like Siri, right? So, you've got to actually ask it something in order for it to tell you something. And, you can always turn off location services, right?

You have to opt in (not opt out, although you can turn it off at any time) on Google 4.1+. But it's not like Siri. The Google Search functionality is like Siri, but Google Now is preemptive search. It tracks where you are, figures out where you live, where you work, where you go on weekends, where you like to eat. When you search for something on Google, it figures out your interests.

When there's traffic on my way home from work, it notifies me of it 15 minutes before I leave. Because it knows when I leave and where I'm going and which route I take. If really bad weather is coming, it warns you. If you bring up the Now app, it will tell you when packages you have ordered will arrive or when your flight is leaving without you having to tell it (because it scans your gmail). It will tell you when you have restaurant reservations when made through Opentable. It tells you about neaby places that match your interests. It gives you the sport scores of your favorite teams (which it magically knows). It even gives you a monthly report on the number of miles you've walked.

It can get kind of creepy. But it's really awesome because it's incredibly useful. Not like that piece of shit Facebook.

 

i'm starting to care less and less about this. As long as I can turn off any notifications i'd get from it it is fine with me. Obviously it is an invasion of privacy but it is just the way things are going. Honestly targeted ads have been nothing but a good thing for me these days. I actually see stuff I enjoy. I was tired of seeing unrelated ads until a while ago and things are getting better. Which is kind of exciting.

 

I don't think of its an app in the actual sense. It will be implemented over time, subversively, like for new downloads and user agreement updates. People will happily give up their privacy, especially for convenience. This will be a double edge sword. Awesome for marketers and annoying for users. I will probably still use it. Mostly, because I will hopefully advertise on it. Like Unforseen said it will suck for "targets" in troubled area.

PE is the new black.
 

Yeah I'm not enthusiastic about this either.

Imagine you work for a company or have a client thats in high water and your facebook status says "Hi, this is Paul Allen. I'm being called away for a few days. Meredith, I'll call you when I get back. Hasta la vista, baby."

Facebook's tracking software tells all of your friends that you're currently in Omaha. I wonder who you're meeting with? Now your deal gets blown up or you end up in the can.

 

I wouldn't mind it if it was something you could opt into. Something like "notify me when there are deals at stores I am near on the following category of items: alcohol, food, clothes, etc." And if you were walking around in the city and someone had a good happy hour going on two blocks away it would alert you. I could see that being a useful function.

This to all my hatin' folks seeing me getting guac right now..
 

Apple already has their "Find My Friends" app on every damn iPhone they put out. How many people do you know that use that? Probably as many as I do: zero.

It seems like every time I see a new Facebook article about their "Next Big Move" it just pushes me farther and farther away from using their products. If it wasn't for the ability to contact friends who I'm not super close to, but still wanna keep in touch with, I would have dumped Facebook even before their IPO.

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win” - Sun Tzu
 

Inky, thanks for that. Google Now sounds pretty wild. Though, those features all sound pretty appealing. I guess the difference, for me, is that Google Now is on your phone and based on, presumably, your search preferences and the places you go. But, it isn't connected to a giant social network. Whereas, Facebook would be tracking you all the time and, presumably, using all the data they get in conjunction with your social networking data. It just seems much less private because it can so easily be broadcast to other people.

 

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