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"Facebook has a lot of things going for them as they prepare to enter the geosocial fray. \u00A0They have a half a billion users. \u00A0They have a strong mobile presence, and a wonderful iPhone app. \u00A0They have thousands and thousands of engaged brands and local businesses. \u00A0They have the team from NextStop, with their impressive local expertise and HTML5 mastery.\r\n\r\nBut they also have some non-trivial issues around trust, social graph, and culture that could prove very challenging, and if mismanaged, could threaten the entire geosocial ecosystem.\r\n\r\nAt the Geoloco conference last week, I heard from multiple sources that Facebook would be releasing geosocial functionality within the week.\r\n\r\nHere is why this is easier said than done.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s the Graph, Stupid\r\n\r\nFor years, Facebook has had the best social graph on the web. \u00A0It\u2019s always been real names on Facebook - no anons or user names - and this has allowed the community to grow on the strength of real world connections.\r\n\r\nBut over time, Facebook\u2019s relentless push towards brand and marketer engagement, mainstream adoption, and public profiles has weakened this graph. \u00A0I get constant friend requests from marketers, porn girls, random offshore people, and that dude that I met at the tech meetup. \u00A0In moments of weakeness, sometimes I approve these requests.\r\n\r\nAnd it\u2019s not just me. \u00A0It\u2019s not uncommon to see people with 500, 1000, or even 2000 friends - especially among younger people whose entire university campus is on the network.\r\n\r\nWhen location gets layered in, these bloated social graphs become problematic. \u00A0Even if I\u2019ve met you in real life, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that I want you to know where I am.\r\n\r\nFacebook\u2019s graph was built to share photos and content. \u00A0Foursquare\u2019s graph was built, from the beginning, to share location.\r\n\r\nLocation is different.\r\n\r\nTwo Steps Forward, One Step Back\r\n\r\nFacebook\u2019s model for rolling out new features is to push the privacy boundaries, and when the backlash gets too loud, to take a contrite step back. \u00A0They did this with the introduction of the newsfeed, they did this with Beacon, and they did this with the relaxed privacy settings.\r\n\r\nIf Facebook\u2019s growth rate is to be believed, this strategy has served them well. \u00A0They are constantly innovating, and unlike other big UGC communities, do not seem to be held hostage by their communities.\r\n\r\nThe Zuckerberg led Facebook does whatever the hell it wants to do, and asks forgiveness later.\r\n\r\nI\u2019m not sure if they can get away with this with location related features.\r\n\r\nMake no mistake, there will be a lurid, stalking disaster that hits via a location sharing service. \u00A0And given Facebook\u2019s scale and market penetration among non savvy users (along with the savvy ones), they\u2019d have to be considered a likely candidate to be dinged - despite the fact that they don\u2019t even have a geosocial app yet.\r\n\r\nFacebook\u2019s entry into the geosocial landscape will need to be gentle, gradual, and conservative. \u00A0To date, this company hasn\u2019t shown much of an ability to be gentle, gradual, or conservative about anything. \u00A0As an entrepreneur in this space, this is troubling, as bungling from our ginormous friends at Facebook could ruin things for everybody.\r\n\r\nThe Trust is Gone\r\n\r\nFacebook\u2019s privacy missteps have been well documented.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s one thing to get upset about \u201Clikes\u201D getting broadcasted publicly without your consent. \u00A0This is the kind of thing that angers people on principle.\r\n\r\nBut location privacy gets to a whole different level. \u00A0If Facebook is sloppy with location data - or more importantly, suspected of being or becoming sloppy - the backlash will be far more intense than anything we\u2019ve seen to date. \u00A0Real world relationships will be damaged, and people could get hurt.\r\n\r\nFacebook\u2019s philosophy of going default on and putting the burden on the user to manage complicated privacy settings will not be tolerated.\r\n\r\nOnce the trust is gone, it\u2019s hard to get it back. \u00A0I suspect that Facebook\u2019s cavalier attitude toward privacy is already damaging the expansion of Facebook Connect.\r\n\r\nAnd I also suspect that most people won\u2019t entrust their location to Facebook until trust is regained.\r\n\r\nConclusion\r\n\r\nCulture, Social Graph, and Trust are three formidable barriers to Facebook rolling out an effective geosocial service.\r\n\r\nGeosocial is a fledgeling, fragile industry.\r\n\r\nFacebook will no doubt exert enormous influence in this space. \u00A0Whatever they end up doing in geosocial, it will likely become the default behavior for millions of people.\r\n\r\nWe can only hope that they proceed cautiously.\r\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2010/07/26/facebooks-geo-problem/>