What is next for Social Media?

By Tyler Olson | November 29, 2009

Geo-location integration.

What does this mean? Imagine being able to let certain people know that you were at Mall of America… Or at the Vikings game… and in return, you were given permission to see that your high school friend is in the restaurant right next door… or your top client is across the street. How would this change your life? It would likely impact where you go, what you do, who you see, and increase the likelihood of meeting up with people you want to meet up with.

Foursquare already does this and has been increasing in popularity over the last 6 months (primarily since the 2009 SXSW). Only a very small percentage of people in Minnesota currently use this tool. However, less than a year ago, social media tools such as twitter were primarily used by those in Silicon Valley as well. As more people dive into Foursquare and related tools, we will likely see another shift in the world of social media.

As one would expect, Facebook and Twitter are beginning to build geo-location tools into their systems. I am looking forward to seeing how they incorporate the next phase of social media. We will likely hear another privacy uproar as we have in the past regarding changes to Facebook. However, if done correctly, Facebook could take the entire geo-location social media game away from Foursquare, Loopts, and others.