Geosocial networking

Geosocial networking is a type of social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted location data or geolocation techniques can allow social networks to connect and coordinate users with local people or events that match their interests. Geolocation on web-based social network services can be IP-based or use hotspot trilateration. For mobile social networks, texted location information or mobile phone tracking can enable location-based services to enrich social networking.

The evolution of geosocial can be traced back to the implication of social application programming interfaces by internet-based corporations in the early 2000s. eBay uses one of the oldest, announcing its social API at the end of 2000 and allowing free access to over 21,000 developers in late 2005.Amazon's primary API was released in 2002, which allowed developers to pull consumer information like product reviews into third-party applications.Google, Inc. began testing an API in April 2002 and currently owns dozens that are used by thousands of applications. The Facebook Developer's API is considered the first to be specific to a social network and was launched in 2006. Facebook later created an open stream API, allowing outside developers access to user's status updates. By June, 2010, Twitter integrated API into their applications and is considered the most open of all social networks. By 2008, expanded geolocation technologies including cell tower localization became available and devices such as digital cameras and camera phones began to integrate features such as Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS navigation into more sophisticated capabilities.

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