Some of the wealth in sharing is inherently good. Scientists recently gathered data to help predict the spread of influenza and Noro virus based on frequency and proximity of Twitter “tweets” that contained words like “sick,” “coughing” and “fever.” So while you may be interested in the private side of life, you might have more to offer in a larger sense.
The best part about this whole stream of data is that you control the flow. You can dam the river anytime you want. Your computer, iPad, cell phone and whatever else just came on the market has a feature you can modify, location services. Most apps ask you to choose to turn it “on” or “off” when you download it. So next time you want to “share” something with your bff, remember, you might be sharing it with a few more people.
