Loopt: The future of social networking?

A couple of years ago, a fairly high profile silicon valley start up named Loopt (backed by Sequoia and NEA) was founded. The company has a location based social network that allows people who are on your friend list to see where you are at all times. I assume the monetization strategy will occur from local adds placed on the maps. The concept must be exciting for social networking power users who constantly want people to know what is going on in their lives. This takes it to a new level. You go out on a Friday night and you can tell where the people you want to hang out with/avoid are located and in what concentration. To sign up friends, you need to get them to register their phone number. There is an iPhone ap that works very nicely, as long as you have a set of friends who are also using Loopt. Unfortunately, no one I know is signed up. I am not sure if anyone is really using the service. The facebook ap is also awful. I think there are two big reasons why Loopt hasnt caught on yet 1)the privacy issues concern people....we will probably eventually get to the point that we feel comfortable having other people know where we are located, but that hasnt happened yet (similar to why friendster did not take off 7 years ago like facebook and myspace have now). 2) It is too hard to build a network around telephone numbers. Loopt relies on people requesting a friendship and requiring them to add their phone number. This action is much more intrusive than putting in an email address.

Overall, Loopt's service works well, is very accurate and has a lot of potential My solution: Facebook should acquire Loopt. Forget about the Loopt Facebook application because it just does not work well. Location based networking should be a primary feature and not a secondary application. Facebook could create a Loopt button on everyone's Facebook front page (assuming the user has a mobile application for Facebook) that "enables location." Loopt would then leverage the existing Facebook network and Facebook would add to its monetization model by providing location based ads and search. Seems like a win win.

Go to www.loopt.com if you want to add me as a friend.

Bankers vs. Consultants

What was the one thing I disliked the most when I was a banker? The experience made me judge people based on how much they made (ie how big their bonus was, etc) and their tolerance to work more than any one else. Luckily, I have been out of the industry long enough that i understand how little those things matter in measuring a person. However, as an analyst or associate in an investment bank, it is easy to fall into that because you have no idea how the work you do affects anything. Anyway, I love this video and how much it makes fun of bankers and consultants. Bankers think they are better than everyone else because they make more money and consultants think they are better than everyone else because they are smarter than them. Look, I will not deny how good banking and consulting is to gain the basic skills to be successful in finance or more generally in business, but I would argue that neither of these jobs actually create anything. If we had no bankers or consultants, would the world be any different? Maybe Banking and Consulting is just a way for HBS students to find jobs and convince themselves that they are doing something meaningful (well, not banking this year). People need to just admit what they are: a platform for something else. I could never do a job like that again, but I can make fun of the people who are :).