» Is Location Important in Social Media?

I am at SXSW in Austin, Texas. It is a huge conference, festival, and party for music, film and internet dorks (ie. awesome).

This is my first time in Texas but I was drawn here like returning to the mothership because in previous years it has been a huge driver in adoption of social media tools. Twitter was famously given a massive boost by SXSW and it is anyone’s guess which service will get the treatment this year.

One thing is for sure, though. Location based social media apps are already in full flow. Although I initally resisted giving away where I am, and hated seeing the messages appear in Twitter, I have finally given in and installed Foursquare.

On the face of it, Foursquare is not very useful. It turns “checking in” your location via GPS coordinates into a game. You win points for doing this. Yeah, I am not very interesed in that side of things either.

Uncheck the “spam your friends in Twitter” settings and start really using it though and all of a sudden it does become useful.

For a start, a huge conference like this one is the ideal setting for location-based social media because it tells you where your friends are, and where the hot parties are taking place.

Secondly, I got a very good tip when at the airport for which security line was shortest! Yes, as well as checking in your location you can also share tips.

Third, I am just about to use it to find where I should have breakfast.

That third one ought to get you thinking about how you might use it in local-based business …

Now, I am not one to suggest that everyone wants or should want this. There are real privacy and personal safety concerns (it is a stalkers dream), but for these uses alone it is also worth thinking about and checking out.

Do you use a location based social media app? Or maybe you are avoiding them like the plague? Please share in the comments ..