Can you believe it? Face-book and Twitter are now "old school". Yes, I said it. Old school! Seriously. The new trend in social networking is based on location, location, location.

Facebook exploded in popularity by allowing us to connect, or in some cases, reconnect with family and friends next door or next continent. We loved getting status updates, seeing pictures and playing games. But we were largely seated in front of our computers and interacting with bits and bites.

Then came Twitter. Now, we were giving real time updates to our followers from our mobile phones as we went about our daily lives. Our every personal thought shared with the world. But again, we connected through technology.

Location-based social networking makes technology social again. Here's how it works. You join a service like Foursquare, Gowalla or Latitude, install the application on your phone, you add a few friends, then you hit the road. When you arrive at your favourite restaurant, party or even hairdresser, you check in to let all you friends know where you are and see who is near you. Based on their proximity, you can then have a face-to-face meeting! Imagine that, technology encourages face-to-face interactions over computer screens and QWERTY keyboards! Brilliant!

Foursquare has emerged as the leader in location-based social networking with Gowalla not far behind. Both services are very similar and make use of the GPS service on your phone to geotag your location as specific intervals.

More tags mean more rewards. Multiple check-ins to a single location earn points that may be converted in to badges. If you visit a location often enough, you may be appointed as 'major' of that location or even a 'super major'. And here is where the rewards start. Businesses recognising your loyalty to their establishment have started offering discounts, incentives and gifts for majors. Image that?! Being rewarded for going to place you go to anyway. Sweet!

Sweet yes, but let's not sugarcoat this new trend. Like other trends, there is a downside. With location-based services, stalking becomes a no brainer. If you are not careful with whom you share your positional information, you may find yourself in all sorts of trouble, you would sooner avoid. So while you have fun having face-to-face interactions with your friends, observe a few tips:

1. Never check in when you are at home, work or other locations that need not be made public

2. Only check in at public locations with crowded areas and open views

3. Limit your check-in locations, don't check in just everywhere

4. Unless your Twitter account is protected, note that when you check in your location is tweeted to all your followers and anyone on your page.

Sure, there are some limited dangers, but not enough to dissuade me from logging on to location-based social networking. The real draw for me is that it helps me put down the computer and have a face-to-face talk with someone I know. With that said, it time for me to go meet someone. Who knows, it may just be you.

Tech Glitch: Can you review the Google Nexus One? Seems to me it trumps the Motorola Milestone by far. David.

Tech Fix: It may be, but sadly Google opted to discontinue the phone earlier this month due to poor sales. As a result, support and spare parts may be in short supply making me weary of getting my hands on one. (Pun intended! )

Have a Tech Glitch of your own? Send your questions to: techiteasy@carlettedeleon.com.