Washington – Only 4% of online Americans have ever used a
"location-based" service such as Foursquare or Gowalla, and just 1%
are using such services on any given day, according to a report from the Pew
Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. What’s more, the number
of online Americans who said they have used a location-based service is
actually down; 5% said they had used such a site back in May.
The number rises
to 8% among online adults ages 18-29, and fares a bit better among adult
mobile users (7%).
More online men (6%) than woman (3%) have used a location
service, while online Hispanics (10%) are using location services more than
both whites (3%) and blacks (5%).
Location-based service usage was found to be
slightly higher among social networking site users (6%), and greatest among
users of Twitter and other "status update sites" (10%).
The report
notably does not include statistics on usage of Facebook Places, the new
location service recently launched by the social network.
"It is possible
that Facebook will help bring location into the mainstream," Pew’s Kathryn
Zickuhr told The New York Times.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2546g4g
(Pew)
http://tinyurl.com/33u5w2a
(N.Y. Times)
