What would your response be if I asked you for the following:

1. Name
2. Username
3. Password
4. Email Address
5. Phone Number
6. Your Friend’s Email Addresses
7. Who you have a crush on
   
8. Regular updates on where you go to eat & drink

Am I the least discrete stalker on Earth? I think that depends on what I plan on doing with your data. One company you may have heard of ?¢Ç«®Çƒ˙ Google ?¢Ç«®Çƒ˙ is asking users for this information under the brand Dodgeball.com. What are they doing with that information?

Dodgeball.com - as they describe it ?¬¢√᬴¬Æ√á∆íÀô is “mobile social software.” The site is designed to build social networks based on popular bar and restaurant locations. The site allows you and your network of Dodgeball friends to update each other on what bars and restaurants you’re at using short text messages from your cell phone. Started in New York City, the service it is currently rolled out in twenty two cities in the United States. The company was acquired by Google in May 2005.

Here is how it works:

A person registers with Dodgeball.com, then sends a text message from their cell phone to verify their phone number. Once that’s done, Dodgeball users simply send a quick text message to Dodgeball from restaurants and bars they visit. Here is a photo of my most recent SMS message to twincites@dodgeball.com from my Treo 600 phone:

Notice the most recent SMS message is for the Chatterbox Pub. That message was a “Check-In” and earned me a spot on the Twincities.Dodgeball.com homepage:

But Dodgeball did more than simply display my mug on their homepage. They also broadcast a text message to all of my friends in my Dodgeball network, telling them where I was.

Had any of my friends been within 10 blocks of my location, I would have received a text back from Dodgeball with their locations. It also has a dating feature that tells your “crushes” when you’re nearby.

What makes this useful?

It’s a fun way to give techie shout outs to friends.

It’s faster and easier than calling your friends to organize a night out.

It’s a great way to discover new restaurants and bars. For example, I’ve never met Aaron L., pictured to my left on the check-in image. While using dodgeball.com, I’ve figured out that we have similar tastes in restaurants and bars, which enticed me to try the Chatterbox Pub last night. I’ll definitely be going back, and I may even meet Aaron there some day.

What does Dodgeball gain?

While the business model is not clear today, but they?¢Ç«®Ç—¢re clearly building a network that?¢Ç«®Ç—¢s attractive to advertisers. The opportunities for local and personalized advertising are tremendous given the detail of data provides by participants in the Dodgeball network.

While text messages are limited to 160 characters, they should have space to add, ?¢Ç«®?ÏTry Bombay Sapphire?¢Ç«®¨˘ to texts sent to people on their way to restaurants or bars. In fact, they could customize the ads based on the type of establishments people are visiting. A gin & tonic may not be the most appealing ad may be a better ad for chicken wing lovers.

Or target the ads to specific locations: How about a Leinenkeugel?¬¢√᬴¬Æ√á‚Äs Honeyweiss ad targeting Maxwell?¬¢√᬴¬Æ√á‚Äs customers with an offer for a free appetizer if they tell their waitress a code word? (example: Join your friend Ed at Maxwell’s [12th & Washington] and receive a FREE APPETIZER for saying ?¬¢√᬴¬Æ?√èDominick the Donkey” to the server.)

Online to Offline Conversions: What will Google do with this data? What happens when people use the same email address for Dodgeball and personalized search on Google. Could Google track online ad performance based on offline restaurant and bar visits by Dodgeball members?

If the idea of publishing your dining patterns on a public web site freaks you out, this probably isn’t the site for you. But, if you are a social buterfly who likes hooking up with friends all over town at fun spots, Dodgeball may be worth trying.

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