Better UI: Social Media UX : Browsing by Geolocation

From what I could find today, Facebook and other social media networks don't embrace browsing based on geolocation. There are hints of locations and maps, Yelp does focus on maps but isn't very social. For the most part, social media is sorted and displayed chronologically within flat lists.

But why aren't we giving users a immersive experience that visualizes this data? Imagine Google Earth, but extremely dynamic and social - changing and morphing through time!

I remembered the FaceBook Sign Up that featured a map. It depicts your network superimposed on a map. However, this map is just static and you don't find anything like that.

I dug around and couldn't find a way to view a map on Facebook. I only found depreciated geolocation tools by third parties. Nothing how I envisioned Social Media using geolocations.

Prediction : FaceBook, Twitter, Yelp or a new entity are going to embrace geolocation browsing. We are going to see new experiences focused on finding stuff based on geolocations.

Someone is going to scrape data. I see it going one of two ways.

Let's take a look at some scenarios that would benefit from Geolocation browsing :

I own a local business and I'm looking for a way to generate interest, excitement or buzz with people that are around my business. I would love for the this to be generated when they are nearby or projected for a future time that they will be nearby. I'm willing to pay for this interest, much like I would for ads.

I use FaceBook quite a bit to keep updated on what my friends are up to. I would love a new way to visualize what my nearby friends are up to. Sure, I'm still going to browse using the chronological list view currently in FaceBook, but a new tool would be fun and engaging.

I'm in a new part of town and would love to know about everything around me : Friends nearby, recent check-ins, recent yelp reviews, tweets, events, local news, instagram photos, businesses offering specials, sports updates ... etc. I would love to do this from within my phone's FaceBook App.

I'm going to be traveling to a new country, I love to see which of my friends have been there. To include - Instagram photos from around the area and events while I'll be there. I'm planning what to do when I visit, and a new map-based tool for this would be great.

There has been a widely publicized new news event in another city. I want to view news updates focused around the area. I also would like to see nearby instagram photos and which of friends are possibly affected.

I'll list the data that is interesting when presented on a map:

When my network does any of the following :

- Check-In or Update
- Likes or other Emotes
- Comment
- Photo
- Posts
- Reviews
- Video
- Audio
- Tweets
- Tag
- Trends
- Broadcast live video
- Broadcast live audio
- Drop a virtual item
- Interact with a virtual item
- Internet Of things device
- Purchase

When sources that I follow do any of the following :

- News update
- Special Offer
- Event
- Wikipedia entry
- Google Earth Photo

Or when FaceBook :

- Suggestions for you
- Important Public Announcement
- Alert
- Amber Alert

Plus, I see a new category for this space, GeoCached objects :

- Image
- Drawing
- Diagram
- Historical Map
- Factoid
- Quotes
- Ongoing log
- Event Happened
- Birth
- Death

Based on those, I've designed some mock-ups that embrace geolocations :