[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #273: Location apps get fancy

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #273: Location apps get fancy
March 14th, 2012

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/location-apps.png>The 
"Interactive" portion of this year's SXSW <http://sxsw.com/> (South by 
Southwest) Conference ended yesterday, and as we did last year 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/?p=1745>, this /4cast/ reports on the 
current buzz for new interactive software coming out of the Austin 
Convention Center. The talk this year seems to be about "ambient social 
location apps." You might already be familiar with Foursquare 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foursquare_%28website%29>, the most mature 
and widespread location app, and your library may even be a Foursquare 
venue. (The OPLIN office is.) So what is this "ambient social" stuff? 
And is it really the next big thing?

    * Ambient awareness, crowdsourced funding, and focused apps at SXSW
      Interactive
      <http://news.yahoo.com/ambient-awareness-crowdsourced-funding-focused-apps-sxsw-interactive-122241700.html>
      (Yahoo! News/AFP Relaxnews) "Unlike existing Foursquare-styled
      apps, ambient awareness apps help users discover friends, friends
      of friends or strangers who share similar interests who are in
      your vicinity. Highlight and Glancee both use your Facebook
      profile to help you make social connections and to find friends of
      friends. Banjo pulls in information from social networks like
      Twitter and Foursquare and apps like Intro and ntro focus on the
      business side of networking."
    * Wallit lets you leave your digital mark in locations, with an
      augmented reality twist
      <http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/06/wallit-virtual-walls-ar-app/>
      (VentureBeat/Devindra Hardawar) "Unlike Foursquare, you can
      actually hold conversations at locations using Wallit. It also
      differs from location-based chat services like Yobongo and
      ChatSquare by allowing you to leave lasting messages at specific
      locations. Wallit's augmented reality (AR) aspect, accessible by
      holding your device in a portrait orientation, takes the
      conversation a step further by having its virtual walls overlayed
      on top of your phone's camera feed."
    * Are location apps really the highlight of SXSW?
      <http://www.theappside.com/2012/03/12/are-location-apps-really-the-highlight-of-sxsw-guest-column/>
      (The Appside/Paul Smith) "The number of apps offering ambient
      location services will explode in the coming months and the
      functionality pushed by Banjo, Glancee and Highlight will be
      incorporated into hundreds of competitors desperate to leverage
      our personal data. Yet nobody wants an app that simply provides
      more information; they want meaningful information that is focused
      and relevant."
    * Ambient social location apps will be consumer duds
      <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ambient_social_location_apps_will_be_consumer_duds.php>
      (ReadWriteWeb/Dan Rowinski) "There is little doubt that both
      Highlight and Glancee are going to be popular for people at SXSW
      and in San Francisco. Maybe even an enclave in Boston, New York
      and D.C. will pony up to these apps. The mass of consumers are not
      going to adopt these apps. The closest comparison we have to these
      ambient location apps is Foursquare that has done well but not
      terrific in the consumer market."

*/Foursquare fact:/*

According to Ignite 
<http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-stats/2011-social-network-analysis-report/#Foursquare> 
data from last year, Foursquare is more popular in Indonesia and 
Singapore than it is in the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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