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Google Latitude Has High Mobile Marketing Potential, but Has Privacy Groups Concerned

Posted February 6th, 2009 by Brad Wellman


Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Earlier this week Google announced its launch of Google Latitude, which is an extension of their popular mobile map application, Google Maps. Google Latitude takes it a step further though by providing you with real-time location-based information using your phone’s GPS, such as where you are, traffic conditions, allowing you to search for restaurants and hotels around you (and rate them), and even where your friends are (provided they opt-in). You can view your friends’ status updates (similar to Facebook or Twitter) and even contact them via SMS, Google Talk or Gmail. While this isn’t exactly a new concept (see the location-based service BrightKite), Google Latitude as upped the ante with functionality. You can even view Google Latitude on you desktop through iGoogle with the Google Latitude gadget.

Google Latitude has some privacy advocates concerned however, citing it a “danger” to security, in a ComputerWorld article. However, Google has stepped up the security features of Google Latitude by making the process completely opt-in on behalf of the user, and it allows the user to change their privacy settings by allowing/denying certain people from viewing your location at any time.

In an article by Ross Dunn of Search Engine Guide, Google Latitude poses a high potential for mobile marketing. Through user-specific location-based advertising on the part of retailers, a Google Latitude user could see an icon on their map near their location of a store having a sale, or of a bar or restaurant nearby offering 2-for-1 specials at happy hour. Similarly, the potential for Google to recognize where you go most frequently and provide recommendations on places you may enjoy is not that far-fetched (see Amazon.com recommending books you may enjoy based on your most recent purchases).

So now I ask you, what do you think of Google Latitude?

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Filed under:Interactive Media, Mobile Marketing, Social Media

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