Spare a moment for me to explain something that’s been bugging me for a while? What’s 
the deal with GPS coordinates in social media profiles – most often, Twitter?
This nuance has gone from something I merely had an ambient awareness of, to something that I questioned, to something that started to really annoy me as it began to throw obstacles into my research as I actively monitor behaviors and conversations in the social space.
GPS coordinates in online profiles are bad for SEO.
Think about it. If a potential client is looking for a public relations professional in Minneapolis, they are likely to search for something like, “public relations, Minneapolis.” I highly doubt anyone is searching “public relations, ÜT: 44.964859,-93.247224.” If you’re doing business in this space, and want to be found, this is a missed opportunity.
GPS coordinates in online profiles don’t offer useful information.
How many people do you know who can recite the GPS coordinates for major cities across the globe? Yeah, I thought so. GPS coordinates, while excellent for air and ground navigation, offer very little information on which to base intuitive decisions. When reviewing profiles and deciding whether or not to follow, I take a look at the profile information. As part of this, I’d like to know where the individual is located. GPS coordinates offer nothing of value to me as I am reading and trying to get an introduction to this individual or business.
I am struggling to find any good reason why GPS coordinates belong in profile information.
My big hangup – and why it took me quite a while to write this post – is that I was seeing several smart individuals, who I highly respect, using GPS coordinates in their profiles. I questioned, “Am I missing something? Certainly, if this is what the ‘cool kids’ are doing, I want to know why.” Other than the fact that perhaps a GPS coordinate might give the impression that one is savvy with mobile technologies, I couldn’t come up with a solid reason that, in my opinion, would validate sacrificing a bio that was optimized for search (with the name of a city).
So, I asked around. And, the responses I got only offered more support for using the city name over the coordinates. Most individuals admitted that they didn’t even realize they were using GPS coordinates (having set up via third party apps) and really hadn’t given much thought to the importance of location in their profile. (A few also told me that after bringing it to their attention, they changed it.)
What about you? Am I still missing something? Have you given it thought?
While I’m comfortable in my statement that GPS coordinates aren’t doing people any favors, I’m also here to learn. If you have any additional thoughts, for or against, or if you’re using them, I’d love to hear from you.
GPS coordinates are arrogant. They reek of “my phone/app is cooler than yours” and “I’m giving you precise data without giving you any useful information because you’re a loser until you prove otherwise” and “only my real friends get access to my destination in English.” Good riddance to them.
Brilliant and eloquent, Elaine. I love it! I’m not even 100% sure of what apps are doing this. Are you? Is it upon account set up, or is it something that adds it later? But yes, totally agree with your point of reeking of arrogance. Thanks for stopping by.
I blame it on twitter apps. When they update location they pull in the lat long, rather than translating it into something that is readable by ordinary humans.
I think you are right, Amy. It is most likely apps. What concerns me, then, is the amount of business folks who aren’t aware of how their profile reads.
I think there’s a logical explanation, but can only come up with this: Doesn’t satellite technology rely on GPS coordinates for mapping purposes? While lat/long deets are pretty worthless to most people, it’s the only way my iPhone will pinpoint where I’m standing and how far I am from the nearest Starbuck’s. I think.
Yes, Chuck, you’re right on the GPS mapping, so I can see where this is necessary if you’re interested in geo-location and adding this feature to your posts, but, as far as I’m aware, you should still be able do this without actually having the coordinates in the bio line of your profile. Or..am I missing something?
I agree with you that the location listed on a person’s profile should be something that is human readable like Jacksonville, FL.
In the application that I build, I store the GPS data but display the human readable location. I think this makes for a better user experience while giving me the power of know precisely where that person was/is. This can be very valuable information and provide context to the message.
Thank you Eric for building your app to be both human and technology friendly! The world needs more of you. Can you tell me about your apps? I’m always looking forward to checking out new toys.
Sure, prepping for launch sometime in Late February/Early March, SonarApp.com will be a tool for people to use in their company to communicate easier with people. Think Twitter, but private, for people that work. We have geo information to give context to the content and also have some fun things in store that I’m not quite ready to reveal yet. Check out our site and sign up to be notified when it launches. I will only send out one email (the launch notice), I promise.
Cool. Thanks!
I agree, too. I never understood GPS coordinates as a location and, frankly, it’s kept me from following a lot of people. Most often the more local you are the more relevant you are for me to follow, and if I can’t tell you’re in Minnesota, then I’ll think twice about following.
As I’m learning here, Amanda, it’s often “mistake” on the user’s part for trusting technology to fill in the fields. It’s a bummer for user experience especially considering that there are so many people like you and I who read and appreciate that information when considering follows. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
This is an eye opener for me. I think I have seen this practice before. Elaine is right, it is arrogant and GPS coordinates are completely useless information, unless someone is wanting badly to hunt you down, like the FBI. Destinations should be in English. It connects us, especially if I have visited your fair city. Perhaps with your post, the word will get out that using GPS coordinates is just plain bad etiquette.
As we become more and more comfortable with our technologies, we need to remember that we’re still just using technology to connect with humans. That’s what excites me about Eric’s comment in that he took the time to build his app that way.
I’m glad I was able to shed some light on the issue for you. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
I remember a few iPhone apps that had an option to update your twitter location with coordinates when you made a status update. Most likely it’s due to those apps. I’m also pretty sure that it’s defaulted to on so you’ll see a lot of people with that because they either a) don’t know better to shut it off b) don’t know how c) don’t care d) think it’s cool e) are arrogant
So glad you dropped by with your smarts. And yes, as Eric said, too, it’s shortcoming of apps as well as your point of ignorance, arrogance or ambivalence. It also comes back to how individuals are using the space, but in my opinion, if you’re here for business of any sort and looking to build a network, you should take that piece of information seriously.
Now you and Eric really have me thinking, though…should I be taking more issue with the apps and their defaults than with the individuals themselves?
I think you are right, Kary, there is no real value to it, unless your last Tweet is from a jail cell in Egypt (which really happened once) and the State Department, who is now on Twitter, needs to find a diplomatic way to spring you loose. There is however, in my humble opinion, a lot of danger in broadcasting your exact location on any location-base service. I use them, albeit sparingly, and mostly just to test them out and see first hand how they work.
Frank, I love your insight and wit. Someone clear something up for me…If I add geo-targeting to my tweets, will it automatically populate my profile with GPS coordinates? If so, I was not aware. I think I might test it and report back.
To your point about danger of broadcasting exact location – I could not agree more. In fact, it’s also in the back of my mind for a future post. You might just have given me the inspiration to revisit it. Have you written anything about this topic?
I think your argument is fair, but short sighted. As we grow, our information grows. Is it that far fetched to believe that within a few years, we may easily recognize GPS coordinates as locations? Heck, you already can identify a random string of numbers as GPS coordinates. That’s already progress.Growing up, I had no idea I had an area code. Then the Twin Cities went from one super area code (612) to multiple area codes (612, 952, 651, etc. ) Today I can identify area codes from around the country. Is this good? Is this bad? Neither, its just what happens when you acclimate to data. At first, information in a new format looks odd and unneeded. After time, it becomes obvious/common. Think back to URLS in adds including www, or even http://. So to the early adopters, you might want to say thanks for starting us out rather than wondering why?
Excellent thoughts. You’ve got a great point there with the area codes. I totally remember when I couldn’t wrap my brain around a 10-digit phone number. And, I’m sure this will all become more commonplace. And, this is part of what I was questioning…Certainly, in many ways, I consider myself somewhat of an “early adopter” of social and mobile technologies. But, if the organic search bots aren’t translating GPS coordinates, yet, what’s the better choice? Sacrifice being found by potential business partners and clients for demonstrating that I’m an early adapter? For me, I’m opting for find-ability. But, I can totally see where others would rather show early adoption.
Thank you for your perspective. I appreciate your thoughts.
Hey Kary,
Welcome to a headache my recruiter and HR colleagues have. We run searches all the time by city or within a certain number of miles of a postal code.
I did a very informal survey about a year ago. At that time 8 of 10 were not aware they were showing GPS coordinates and most were using one of the BlackBerry apps for twitter.
My guess like you and others have mentioned is this is not just a BB app issue.
As I look at UberTwitter right now, click on “Options” scroll through when I get to “Setup Twitter GeoTagging” and “Default Location Settings” this is where most people are not knowingly going from Minneapolis, MN to GPS coordinates.
Dude…I totally responded to this like 3 times and WordPress was being a pill. Now, the point is moot. But, I thank you for reading, commenting, and just being all-around awesome and smart. Seriously.
You’re taking the profile-for-humans approach. Nothing wrong with that, but humans *aren’t* the only audience for profile information.
The way I look at it, I answer questions in profiles as much for search engines and third party developers as much as other Twitter users.
Google has *no* problem interpreting coordinates, and if it plots mine on a map with all the other people whose profiles indicate merely a city and state, well, my location will be more specific.
Say someone builds an app or web service that extracts profile info and plots Twitter users on a map? The coordinates-or-city-name argument would either disappear or tilt the other way because the coordinates would be more accurate.
Hi Colin,
You’re absolutely right…and, that’s my struggle. Who should we cater our content to – apps or humans? Until the two are intersecting and reading information in the same way, we have a problem. As a human, I search one way. And, I rely on bots that haven’t yet mastered these issues. So, what do we do in the meantime?