According to latest reports, by using the Foursquare service, you can broadcast your location.
Ms. Jordan Viator, 26, Communications Manager at a Non-profit company, said, “I only share my location with people I am comfortable meeting up with, and when I want to be found”.
However, the service might not sound too good to the privacy-minded people.
Google’s Latitude and mobile services such as Loopt have advertised the idea of showing off your location continually to a map, which is visible to a network of friends.
But the recent, Foursquare, has something else in store.
After installing the Foursquare application on their cell phones, users are able to view a list of nearby bars, restaurants and other places, pick their location and “check in”, sending an alert to all the friends using the service.
This service is gaining pace in the Internet industry, since it gives people more options to disclose their locations.
Anne Lapkin, an Analyst at the research firm Gartner, says that if checking in continues at a good pace, it will raise mobile advertising.
In 2004, Dennis Crowley had created the service called Dodgeball, with a classmate in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University.
He decided to expand on the idea with Foursquare in 2005.
“Each time you check in, you’re giving permission to share your location and get pinged with information about interesting things nearby”, Mr. Crowley said.
Launched a year ago, Foursquare has expanded to more than 500,000 users and reports to have 1.6 million check-ins a week.












