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Fri Sep 18,2009,
14:06 GMT
GPS Dating Article in the Globe and Mail
Posted by Hal
Here’s a good article introducing the latest peep trend: gps dating services that alert you when a potential match is physically proximate. There are a whole bunch off new players on this scene, including Skout, Are You Interested?, BluePont, and for gay guys, Grindr.
A screen shot from Bluepont gives you a quick snapshot of how this works.
“Give Chance a Hand!” “This is Magic.” Yeah. Right.
A few interesting points about these services: though the article quotes me pointing to some of the potential fallouts, it doesn’t come out and state the biggest and most obvious one of all: most of these services are “free” and are looking monetize by either up-selling premiere services once you are hooked, or by integrating some form of advertising into the service. (“Hey your potential hook-up is just down the block! And so is Starbucks!”) As is all too often the case with peep-related products, something that seems free comes with a cost.
The article also mentions that I’ve “experimented” with Latitude, the Google GPS service that allows you to share your location with people, and vice-versa. I got a Latitude demonstration when we were at Google Headquarters, and I’m very intrigued to test out the service and see how allowing people to know my location will change everyday life. Outside of the many drawbacks that come from any service that wants you to share your location so they can make money, there’s something really interesting about the idea of people being able to drop in on you randomly, something community minded and fun about the concept. Coming up soon on the peepdiaries site we’ll be going live with Lattitude for a while. There will be a Google Map on the site that lets people track my whereabouts and even randomly drop in on me. That’ll probably happen in a few weeks. Hey director Sally, when are we doing that?
Graphic for the the Globe and Mail story on GPS Dating Radar Love.
There are -5- Comments: , Add yours…
22:24
It seems like you have t be out and about to use it. I don’t think there will be someone sitting around the corner waiting for you to meet them, but good concept though.
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
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12:31
This scares me, to be perfectly honest. It’s got such a potential for danger!