Adverts that know where you are

If the tabloids tell us where Cheryl and Ashley are at all times, it should make life easier for jewelry thieves lurking near their house. That point makes some people anxious about constantly revealing their location. Others are far less concerned, which could be a real bonus for advertisers.

The Economist reports on Foursquare, a service that lets people publicise their location so their friends can see where they are—and businesses can aim advertising at them. These services are growing fast and attracting a lot of investor interest. Is this all hype (it’s been forecast for so long, lots of firms had just about given up on it) or could it be the start of something big?

The relentless rise of the mobile phone is one reason, more and more of which come with satellite-positioning. And millions of people have become comfortable sharing information about themselves, via mobile apps that access social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Big business is starting to take a close interest. The opportunity to offer targeted advertising based on a user’s location should help these and other firms win a slice (or in Google’s case, expand its slice) of the huge market for local advertising. However, it may be quite some time before marketers become comfortable with the notion of pushing out ads on phones—and consumers get used to receiving them. Companies both big and small will first have to reassure growing concerns over the privacy issues associated with collecting information about people’s movements.