There has been lots and lots of talk recently about location-based marketing and with Pew research recently stating that Gen Y is set to continue to share information it looks like this is to become a very hot topic.

“Generation Y Millennials will continue their current habit of sharing large amounts of personal information online as they age, according to the recent “Future of the Internet” study from the Centre’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Centre.

Consensus Sees Gen Y as Open with Online Info

Sixty-seven percent of technology experts and 69% of total survey respondents agreed with a statement that said in part, “By 2020, members of Generation Y will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic, and political opportunities.”

And knowing youth the way I do, I have to agree the trend will continue. Generation Z are at an early age showing more openness and willingness to share much more information than we ever have before. Where will it end? Well I have to say it won’t. I don’t think so and while I think users may get much more choosy about who they share with and what and think, the marketers need to show a little more restraint and consumers a bit more savvy.

Over the past year, we’ve seen dozens of publications tout “location-based” as their big 2010 trend prediction – we get it, there’s tons of fun things to do with them socially.

Perhaps the most quoted case study thus far in this realm is Starbucks’s Foursquare special offer, which greeted mayors with the following push notification:

While these services can be of great help and allow us to connect more with the brands we want, to let our friends know where we are, there is a downside. I feel that we need to educate the youth; giving them the ability to tell everyone where they are without at least giving them both sides of the story is irresponsible.

I had an amazing conversation recently about this topic on twitter with @askbillmitchell, which had him posing such questions as,

• Should our work ethic be judged by things we do off the clock?
• What happens when insurance companies use the “openness” to disqualify policy holders?
• Take, for example, bill collectors. They now scan social media to catch dead beats. Law enforcement uses it to find criminals…

These are all valid points. As an ex-police officer I can see how location-based checking in would have helped me solve crime, perhaps preventing some from being committed. A recent episode of Criminal Minds, which saw a serial killer stalking people on a location-based system, illustrates the point.

In my youth I personally had to flee a violent ex-boyfriend who stalked me for four years and found me, even when he did not know where I was. Imagine how much information he would have had about me if social media was as rife then as it is now?

And I love the scenarios stated in The Double-Edged Sword of Location-Based Services (via Christopher Burgess) which give us an insight into the good and the bad. “Reasonable: If I am driving my car and I have an accident and am incapacitated, I think having my automobile sensors note the vehicle has been in an accident followed by an automatically generated transmission is an excellent use of a location-based service. I want help to come to me when I need it most, especially if I am unable to request it myself. Similarly, automated location updates would provide meaningful information about traffic congestion and suggest alternative routes. I’m also comfortable with the ability to request suggestions for services in an “on-demand,” rather than “push” scenario.”

While I still think the pros outweigh the cons in location based services, I really do think we need to be helping young people think about what they are posting and I think it is simple. Just alerting them to a easy process before the post – something I go through myself every time I post.

1. Who could see this?
2. How could posting this cause me problems?
3. What is this post saying about me?

While I say I sometimes get it wrong, mostly this second thinking can save me doing things that could cause issues later. For example, never checking in at my home address, which some people do. And marketers have a responsibility here, I think. That is, only taking information with permission and if it is of benefit to the customer, i.e. the reward is worth them parting with their information.