Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

Here are ten joints you may want to reconsider before checking in on Gowalla or Foursquare:

1. Adult "entertainment" venue, and I don't mean Applebee's after 9 o'clock
2. That place you see your paramour, and I don't mean the band
3. Rival gang turf
4. Border patrol if you are a spy
5. Dark alley to interview, only later to reveal, an anonymous source
6. Your bank, after hours, in the vault, holding power tools
7. Hot job interview while gainfully employed
8. SXSW when you're not actually there, poser
9. Betty Ford, or that place Tiger checked himself into
10. Jail

The subject of geolocation sparked some interest during yesterday's social media presentation I gave to InterCom Kalamazoo. The independent consultants, recent college grads and transitional career types in attendance were certainly no strangers to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Yet they struggled with the value of status updates in those social networks. "Tell me again why I care that my friend is drinking coffee, or a certain brand of coffee, or whatever?" was the general consensus. (I'm just as guilty, bearing my soul to my Facebook friends that I've switched to decaf. Do you really care?)

Some connections do care, and according to Mark Zuckerberg, you do more than you think. So do marketers, though they're not so concerned about you as they are your connections and how they interact with you. No so much my taste in coffee but the brands that my friends, and their friends, consume, how often and, these days, where. Reigning geo champ Foursquare just announced a joint promotion with Starbucks on the heels of its Bravo deal:

Heavyweight contender Gowalla is not far behind, with multiple brand deals, its own promo with the Travel Channel, sponsorships of the recent Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Both rivals are a hot topic in Texas, speaking of SXSW. Each are accessible on multiple mobile platforms, and are consuming more of my mindshare than I care to admit. The optimist in me sees geolocation becoming a permanent fixture in social media. The pessimist sees the fervent adoption this latest bandwagon and then thinks back to Second Life.

Regardless, geolocation is a game changer. Google wants in on the action with its Latitude and Buzz apps. Twitter just added geo-location to tweets and Facebook is not far behind. Somewhat related, I brought up Blippy to yesterday's lunch crowd, and they immediately scoffed at the notion of broadcasting their credit card purchases. Given the inherent privacy concerns, I can't blame them one bit. Still, one of my points yesterday was to "fear not the cosmos" and for all we know, they could be managing geolocation campaigns for their companies or clients in the not too distant future.

On a personal note, I've played with Foursquare and will inevitably get dragged kicking and screaming. Tagging my "20" isn't my current cup of tea, but don't be surprised if I'm chirping about some chai concoction over wi-fi before long. Had the "First Mama" had Foursquare, she may have even allowed mobile check-in at the boozey bin. But I digress. Grab a cup of joe and a mobile app and see for yourself whether geolocation is right for you and your cause.