Specifically, Pew found, “4% of online adults use a service such as Foursquare or Gowalla that allows them to share their location with friends and to find others who are nearby. On any given day, 1% of internet users are using these services.” Seven percent of adults use location services, Pew found, and twice as many men as women use them — that’s 6 percent versus 3 percent (perhaps men want to be found, and women want to be left alone.) Among polled ethnic groups, whites were the least likely users (3 percent) and Hispanics the most (10 percent), with blacks at 5 percent.

So what does this mean? For all the attention check-in services get, and all the interest in the space by big players like Facebook and Google, the adoption so far does seem meager. I’m inclined, however, to agree with Hunch CEO (and Foursquare investor) Chris Dixon, who said on Twitter of this study: “In other news, the future hasn’t happened yet.”

The Pew study itself draws no particular conclusion about the viability of geolocation services. But it does note that lots of people don’t even know if they are using one and that many services incorporate location awareness (like Twitter), making their use seamless and perhaps forgettable.

And that’s it in a nutshell. Services like Foursquare and Gowalla treat location like a game. If you aren’t in the game mentality, you might tend to shy away from such things even if you are a location-awareness nerd who lives by mobile Google Maps.

But these services are proving that there is an appetite for using a smartphone to find nearby things. That’s because location awareness has two distinguishable functions: You can use it to tell others where you are, the better to spontaneously meet up with people or trade that data with businesses in return for better treatment. But you can also use it just to find nearby things without revealing to anyone, save your search provider, where you are.

That’s the future. Part of that future is here now and — no disrespect to Pew — the future is difficult to measure.

Fire up the browser on an Android phone and it opens a Google search page. Right under the search box is the town you are in now. Right next to that is a link called “Near me Now,” which reveals nearby points of interest. Same is true on the iPhone, where you have to opt in each time. This is powerful, disruptive stuff complete novices who’ve never downloaded an app in their lives put to use instantly and as needed.

Facebook Places, along with the social network’s push to extend Facebook Connect to every mobile phone could add significant scale to geo-aware use. There are already 200 million installs of Facebook’s mobile app — a mere two-fifths of its membership — and the company has made clear it regards mobile social as a big part of its future.

So, this is a case of “Watch this space.” With titans like Google and Facebook placing big bets on the belief that everyday people will want lots of on-demand local knowledge in their pockets, and with businesses delighted to be able to discover and entice strangers in their midst but not yet in their establishments, location-based services have a healthy future.

And if the numbers Pew reports are correct, there is no place to go but way up.

Follow us for disruptive tech news: John C. Abell and Epicenter on Twitter.

See Also:

• Gowalla Tops Foursquare at SXSW Web Awards (But Benson Smokes ‘em …
• SXSW: Geeks Defend Their Foursquare Turf
• Inside Foursquare: Checking In Before the Party Started (Part I …
• Inside Foursquare: Checking In Before the Party Started (Part II …
• Yelp Takes On Foursquare in Latest iPhone App Upgrade
• Foursquare Unlocks ‘$20 Million in Funding’ Badge
• You’re a Big Deal on Foursquare. But Are You The Mayor OF SPACE …
• Foursquare On The Verge of a VC Cash Infusion: WSJ.com
• Facebook Launches ‘Check-In’ Service to Connect People in Real …
• Gowalla Hits Comic-Con With Special Stamps, Zombie Swag …
• Gowalla’s RoboCop Trip Guides You Through Crumbling Detroit …
• NASA and Gowalla Team Up to Explore the Moon
• New Google APIs Know Where You Are
• Future of the Web: Location, Location, Location – Wired News
• Geode Tells Firefox Where You Are, What’s Nearby
• Report: Mobile Geo-Marketing Not Where It’s At, Yet

Authors: John C Abell

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