You may have heard about the "gay cruising" phone application, Grindr, which "uses GPS technology in your iPhone or BlackBerry and Wi-Fi in your iPod touch or iPad to determine your exact location and instantly connect you with guys in your area." The first thing that I thought, was how scary is it to have strangers knows exactly where you are? Then I saw this article on Gawker about a Washington Examiner reporter using Grindr to find which part of the White House, Pentagon, and Capitol has the most gay people. Anyone can use this application, and my concern is, what if it gets into the wrong hands? I imagine that one using this application is aware that he is exposing himself to the world, and there is a "blocking" capability, however, I still couldn't help but worry about the possible misuse this application could lead to.
On the other hand, the app is immensely popular, and shows the power of mobile phone. The app reached its 500,000th member in February 2010, after launching in early 2009. http://iphone.sys-con.com/node/1299346 With almost 2,000 new users signing up daily, it's clear this app is filling some kind of social need. Just this one app also shows the potential of mobile marketing. If an application targets a specific market, I wonder if there is a way for marketers to advertise via the application.
I didn't know that applications like these existed. I agree with you, it is very scary to see how people can locate others so easily. As in everything else in the Internet (social networks, business websites, etc.), resources like these should be used with caution. There are many examples of how your information can be manipulated and used for illegal purposes. This is why recently websites are giving much more importance to security issues. A well known case is Facebook and its privacy settings for users. It is very good that efforts on controlling people's information are being made.
ReplyDeleteIt's really amazing to see all the different things one can make use of with modern technology. I dind't know either that applications like these existed. The possibilities are endless when it comes to satisfying customer's needs and desires. You can find applications for everything, and most importantly for specific groups of people with special characteristics.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei don understand.. so there was a bunch of people, who decided to do some statistics about gay people, where they are, and what they do.. and used that in an application? And those gay people actually agreed to give this information?
ReplyDeleteThat is weird...
and i do agree with you that, what would happen if this information or applications are misused?
Hermes is an SFA software that offers: Mobility, Automation, Advanced Analytics, Image Recognition for Sales and Merchandising Field Reps, integrated in a Retail Execution Software running on Tablets and Smartphones.
ReplyDeleteSFA Romania - Hermes by Transart