It’s barely been a week since Facebook Places launched, and the buzz has not slowed around its business potential, marketing prowess and startup-squashing powers.  But a Wall Street Journal article today reminds us that it’s far too soon to jump to major conclusions around the business of geo-location and marketing, particularly as it pertains to startups and social networking giant Facebook. WSJ asks,

Will business continue to use the service? Several other pieces have to fall into place for the services to become more mainstream, said Sree Sreenivasan, a digital media professor at Columbia University. “You need customers who buy into the technology and are willing to use it, and you need businesses that are savvy enough to use it in a smart way to harness that,” he said.

The article brings up an important question: where do consumers stand in all this?  As consumer interests gain in influence over marketing tactics and brand recognition techniques, the most competitive and successful brands will be those that consider their consumers first.  Social networks and direct app access have offered the beginnings of ways in which to do so, but the conjoining of these worls may still put consumers off, or threaten their privacy.

Rand Nickerson, CEO of OpinionLab, comments on the personally identifiable information, and its position in the larger geolocation trend, saying,

“Is geolocation data associated with an individual considered personally identifiable information (PII)?  In some contexts, it obviously is. Should the consumer have the same concerns about geolocation data that they currently have about other forms of PII?

The combination of geolocation data associated with an individual and broadcast or published in real time represents a particularly troublesome scenario in my opinion.  The potential for improper use is high and we are very early on the exploitation curve.  As a consumer, I don’t want that data out there unless I clearly understand who owns it, what rights may have been sub-licensed to it, how I can control distribution of it, and who is responsible if it is used improperly.”

While we trudge through these early days of a digital marketing revolution, consumer data and its access and ownership will begin to take center stage regarding the uptake, monetization and regulation of apps from Facebook, Foursquare, and all the others.  It’s something consumers and startups must consider moving forward, to optimally navigate the shifting business waters.

Read more about OpinionLab’s latest mobile marketing report here.