Earlier today I had a conversation with a friend about the growth of location based networks. She has always been a skeptic of new technologies in social networking like status updates and photo tags. It’s a valid argument, five years ago everyone would have thought you were nuts if you wanted to tell every friend and acquaintance you know what you were thinking or doing at any given time. Here is some of my ideas that came into my head during this talk.

The biggest innovation in social media is without a doubt location based networks. Tools like Gowalla, Foursquare, SCVNGR, and Facebook Places have all tried to bring this new technology to the public. Marketers and Advertisers are drooling over the possibilities that these tools will bring, but there is still one obstacle. Where are the users?

So far the adoption rate of these applications has been extremely low, with some speculating only 4% of the Internet user base being aware of these tools. Without a big enough user base, people will shy away from the new networks. For example, everyone is on Facebook, so you don’t need to convince your friends to get an account. As opposed to trying to explain why your friend needs to be able to see where you are at all times.

I believe that Facebook will be the platform that gains the attention of the majority of social network users and makes them really give location networks a chance.

Location based applications will continue to grow due to the exponential adoption rate of smart phones. While location based applications are still finding their place in the world, soon they will become just as common as status update and photo tagging.