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Why 2.5? Part 3 will address some specific business models. But before the “HOW” I would like to address some factors and analyze the “WHY” there is a case for LBSN.

We are witnessing a new evolution in the online world. The “WHO are you” and “WHAT are you doing” is rapidly evolving to “Who are you” “What are you doing” “WHEN are you doing” and “WHERE are you”. We can fairly say that the WWW became the WWWW

The When and Where pose many questions, most of them associated with privacy. For example:

1- How is the location captured: Automatic by the system, Others on demand, You on demand
2- What type of location notification: Descriptive text (i.e. “At gym”, “at Starbucks”), area in a map, zip code, exact address, a point in a map
3- How is the sharing: Reciprocal, one way, only on authorization
4- Location History: Movement patterns, Tracking, Monitoring
5- Location Ownership: Resale and/or disclose of the information

But the same concerns for privacy were raised before we published our family photos and videos to the world. The fact is that the accessibility of technology creates communities and services. The simplification of web page building facilitated the rise of communities like FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIN and others. The commoditization and accessibility to digital cameras, camcorders, and webcams has paved the way to communities like YouTube and Flicker or services like SnapFish. GPS devices became a commodity, and soon GPS in a cellular phone will be as common as a camera. As a matter of fact, you can get your position without a GPS (see Google maps) and Location Based Services can simply be added as a feature to mass social networks like Facebook. Location Based Social Networking is not a question of IF, it’s a question of WHEN and the when is NOW.

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