socialmedian: Did Google Just Kill All the Other Mobile Social Networks?

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Mobile Knowledge Workers Say Heaven is Real By daynamarcum

Feb 04, 2009

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Did Google Just Kill All the Other Mobile Social Networks?

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Feb 04, 2009

Summary

Yesterday, Google announced a new mobile location-aware application called Latitude, which lets you track your friends' whereabouts using your mobile phone. The move will have major ramifications to the current mobile social networking market which was just beginning to get off the ground. The question we must ask now is this: did Google just validate mobile social networking ...or did they just kill all the competition?

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Will Latitude Become the De Facto Mobile Social Network?

With the rise of smartphone-based computing, applications like Brightkite, Loopt, and others were slowly growing their user base, letting friends share posts, photos, and other information with each other as they moved from place to place out in the real world. Accessed via mobile applications or SMS, these sorts of networks provided the framework for connecting people to the places they visit.

However, it was too soon to determine whether mobile social networking was a space that would ever really take off. As studies showed, the social networks that most people accessed on the g

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Comments (4)

Callie O,

Feb 04, 2009

Its a very advanced application, you can switch it off or not. As for social networking I think it has amazing potential providing that users are 'taught' how to use it sensibly. Bearing in mind todays news that so many sex offenders were removed from MySpace it may be worth considering a decent walk through of the app with warnings and advice for security. As with FB the default setting should be private and you have the choice to opt open!

Davidpetherick,

Feb 05, 2009

What a crappy headline.

Here's my crappy headline: "Ten Reasons why Google Latitude will succeed" - My Article at The Next Web http://twurl.nl/ci1jdd

Rorowe,

Feb 06, 2009

Google didn't "kill" other geolocation services and social networks. They just added another one to the mix. Unfortunately, those without smartphones are left out of Google's. BrightKite is my clear favorite because they were first, allow multiple methods of access (sms, email, website), and (ironically) they're already using Google Maps for their location-finding.
Seems like Google should've bought BrightKite instead of Dodgeball.

Michaelmuse,

Feb 16, 2009

VERY interesting article on Latitude's impact on all the other 'mobile social networks'. This is a really poignant reminder - We should really prioritize content over features. IMHO, users will come to us because we give them the best recommendations, not because we are the easiest way to connect with people. This means recommending things that are (1) close and (2) match users preferences (incl. price range). We should kill events that are likely to be over, that are sold out, etc. Forcefeeding RBLs is a short term cash flow fix - innovating to give users value will lower churn and boost $$ over the longer term. What do you think Facebook's churn is?