Your Location Is Lame!

There is an ever growing popularity in location-based social networking sites like Brightkite, Foursquare, and Gowalla that allow users to tell their friends where they are. Twitter has even joined in on the fun and added geolocation, and there was an announcement today that Facebook would be unveiling location features next month.

These services can be useful for a variety of reasons such as sharing a bad experience at a local business or posting a photo of a beautifully plated entree at a nice restaurant. However, in my opinion, it seems what was a well intended means of dispensing useful information attached to a specific location has made a turn for the worse. The quality of content created has decreased as the popularity of location-based sites increases. Not to mention, most users sync their check-ins on Twitter and Facebook for an endless loop of annoyance.

Here is my list of the 3 most annoying people using location services:

1. Mayor Of Lame Locations. This type of user has no business using location services as they never go anywhere cool. They repetitively check into places like the gym everyday. You stick to your workout regimen, and while I commend you for it, I don't care when and where you work out. Other lame locations include fast food restaurants and the dentist office. Just stop abusing location services and your friends with your lameness.

2. Check-in Whore. This is the person who goes to a place for only 5 minutes just so he or she can tell the world they where there and then moves on to the next place so they can check in there too. They may also travel just so they can check-in at new locations trying to prove to the world how exciting their life is. Well guess what, it's not exciting; it's annoying. Thanks for flooding my Twitter homepage & Facebook news feed with dozens of locations a day and not inviting me to any of them.

3. TMI Locations. No location is too sacred for these users to keep private. They have no regard for the safety of themselves or their family. They have no issues posting their home address or the exact location of the elementary school they just checked into to post they were dropping their son or daughter off. Are you crazy? Please, use a little common sense and think before broadcasting your location to the world.

As more and more social networks jump on the location-based bandwagon, I'm curious what direction users will take it. Will something useful develop from the content or is location check-ins just going to be another thing I block in my Facebook news feed?

UPDATE: Poll Results 3/9/10 - 3/16/10

Does it annoy you when friends sync location-based sites to Twitter & Facebook?
25% Yes
25% No
50% Meh

Who Makes The Dish Taste Best?

I brought some ceviche I made last night for lunch today. As I plated my colorful combo of citrus marinated seafood and chopped vegetables, a coworker walked into the break room and said, "I'm interested in what white girl ceviche tastes like. You make it different, right?"

To which I replied, "I didn't know there was right or wrong way to make ceviche."

To the best of my knowledge, there are many highly acclaimed chefs that create dishes with influences from different ethnic backgrounds than their own. Do you believe ethnic background plays a role in making a meal taste more authentic or does it really not matter?

UPDATE: Poll Results 3/2/10 - 3/9/10

Do you have preconceived notions about how the food will taste when you see who the chef is?
66% Yes
33% No
00% Meh