This is a follow-up on the original post: Location based service and privacy (or the lack thereof). This post, part two is a short evaluation of how sharing my location with each and everyone changed my life.
Okay so what did I do? Well I spend the first couple of weeks tweeting, and sharing my location on foursquare 4 or 5 times each day. I lost some followers to that but it was in the name of science. My days basically are kind of the same, Wake up, Bus -> Train -> (Starbucks) -> Work -> (lunch) -> Train -> Bus -> Home -> Buy Dinner -> Home -> Go Out -> Home -> Bed.
So what did I gain?
- More followers on twitter doing ads on products or services
- Had a few friends join me when I was in a bar; this happend once
- Got some badges, mayorships, and points on foursquare
- More pissed of people because of my boring tweets.
So what did I lose?
- Followers on Twitter because of recurring tweets
- Privacy
- Anonymity
So basically I lost three things that people now-a-days don’t really care about I guess. However I gained four things, so is it worth it? In a single word: no! I gained four things and none of them seem really useful to me.
Then I stopped doing this sharing on a regular bases.
What did I gain?
- People interested in what I did the other night, since they didn’t know yet
- Some more privacy on my daily routine
What did I lose?
- My mayorships on foursquare
- and nothing really
In short sharing your location on purpose like I did the last couple of weeks can be fun sometimes, however I did not really gain anything by doing so. I did lose some conversation material and privacy however. If it’s worth it? That’s totally up to each individual themselves. I will still do an occasional check-in here and then, and I will share my location with tweets sometimes. I think the lesson, if any, should be that you need to be aware of what you post into the world.
Feel free to drop a comment and tell us about your experience with location based services and privacy.
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