One of the latest trends in online social activity has been the explosion of location-based search.  Whether it’s through Google search, Foursquare, Yelp, or the myriad other services available through a quick query to your mobile phone’s built-in GPS, tracking a user’s location is proving to be beneficial for both users and businesses.

Security and Privacy

The biggest fear of location based marketing is not a big surprise. Personal data, including the chance of an individual’s location being publicly spread, is highly sensitive and is still a very difficult roadblock for many online businesses to overcome.

A level of paranoia still exists for many people who still believe that “Big Brother” is watching them, and it’s sometimes difficult to prove them otherwise. (See the very highly publicized PleaseRobMe.com) What I try to suggest to these naysayers, is that companies want to know as much about their customers as they can, but they do not necessarily concern themselves with each individual’s activities.

In fact, the largest of all social networking websites, Facebook, is in the process of implementing a service which allows its users to enter their location into their status updates. This could be a boon for businesses as their locations may show up in searches and other friend feeds. Facebook has seen its share of bad press lately though, with a variety of privacy related issues, so this is an update that must be handled carefully.

Imagine searching for ‘Running Shoes’ in your mobile browser, only to be directed to the 5 nearest running shoe stores?

There are other websites, with questionable business models, such as Blippy, who have had some very unfortunate experiences. It’s a service where users can log their credit card purchases and share them with the world.  Why anyone would want to this is beyond me, but… to each his own. User’s credit card numbers were showing up in search results, with obviously detrimental results.

The Benefits

The biggest benefit of location features for users, at least for the near future, is mobile search. Imagine searching for ‘Running Shoes’ in your mobile browser, only to be directed to the 5 nearest running shoe stores? This effect can even be seen on your desktop or laptop browser, with your location being pulled through your IP address.

If carefully executed, location focused activities could create a substantial increase for local businesses. A fantastic example of this, taken from Report On Business magazine, involved an individual searching for a Christmas tree, using the search term ‘Christmas tree, palo alto”.  He was immediately instructed to go to the local Boy Scouts office, who were selling Christmas trees, showing up as  the #1 website in Google’s search results. The Boy Scouts hadn’t spent a penny on billboards or advertising, but due to a mobile location-based search, they were able to reach a customer who was looking for a specific product.

This is one of the millions of stories that have, and will be told in the months and years to come, as the possibilities for retailers and geographically targeted businesses are endless.

Some location based tools include :

• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• Blippy
• Facebook, Twitter and Google have some form of location based marketing either in the works, or in practice, with MANY more to come.