#“Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla and Latitude”
The latest version of Google Maps has some upgrades to Latitude, the service no-one has ever heard of, or uses. The main new feature is "Suggested Friends" where it trawls your GMail and Google Apps accounts for people you know who are on Latitude.
Prior to this I had all of 6 people I was connected to on Latitude.
What did it come up with for me? Someone who has been using GMail for 5 years and has emailed thousands of people?
4 more.
Let's compare to my connections on some of the other Location based services:
- Twitter - 628 (me following)
- Facebook - 275 (Location being worked on right now, straight from the Zuck's mouth on Monday)
- Foursquare - 177
- Gowalla - 46
Even Gowalla, who I think needs to get an exit fast as they are becoming an also-ran, is way beyond where Latitude is at.
Why Latitude even exists with the advent of Buzz I'll never understand.
Why Buzz hasn't been done properly on Maps I will equally never understand.
Siloooooooooooooooo.
LBS will be totally owned by Facebook as soon as they roll it out. Which gives Google maybe 6 months to get their act together with Buzz. Drop the Friendfeed-style nonsense, take the best bits of Maps, fully integrate Buzz there with Places and offers, job done.