(Online Dating Industry Journal) An article in NY1 News briefly details the next step in cell phone usage for online dating. From the article:
"Now the next step in mobile dating is where things get a little more interesting, a little more scary. This is when every phone is enabled with Global Positioning System. This is for when you call 911, emergency workers can pinpoint exactly where you are. Now apply that to dating. Imagine you're anywhere in the world - at a club or on street corner - all of a sudden your phone lights up and tells you someone with similar interests is standing about 30 feet away.
“That is one of the reasons Sprint especially is so interested in this cell phone dating,” says Segan. “They're in the middle of enabling all of their phones with GPS services, and they need to find a way to make that a very strong selling point. Well, having the GPS tell you if there are cute singles in your vicinity is a fun selling point.”
Many wireless carriers admit it is an interesting application. Sprint, though, insists it needs to fully vet some privacy and safety concerns before you'll be able to pinpoint that exact someone as late as December 31st, 11:59 p.m."
Kim's Comments:
Cell phone GPS abilities can be a good thing and bad thing in the online dating world for obvious reasons. As the article states, it might be fun to be able to locate your online (or cell phone) match in order to meet up or just know how close or far they are to you while you speak with them. But this brings up some huge privacy issues. In the online dating world, you may be ready to communicate via text or cell phone, but not ready to meet someone in person. Keeping your location private is vital to staying safe before meeting in person, expecially if you don't know the person on the other end of the line very well.
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