Leah Betancourt is wondering why the location based services so beloved of Web 2.0 people haven’t taken off and been adopted by the general public. The arguments boil down to two areas (“privacy issues” and “where is the value”) and an easy solution doesn’t appear to be on the horizon. More below.

Beatancourt writes (on Mashable):

Location-based service providers are addressing these concerns by giving consumers more control. Most current iterations of the popular location-based networks allow users to opt-out of location tagging and notifying users when their location is being shared…

For early adopters, though, the long-term promise of more value through targeted ads, coupons and deals, along with the game mechanics (i.e., badges and “mayor” competitions) instituted by some networks has made location-based services worth the potential privacy headaches.

Is the answer to jumpstarting location services Twitter and Facebook? This of course pre-supposes that Twitter is actually in the mainstream (and I’m tempted to argue that it isn’t), but certainly Facebook could leverage their user base to at least think about their location and adding this to their profile.

Users of the new Ovi Maps client will be aware that Facebook is supported by Nokia in the location service through the “share location” function recently added, but it’s a long road from an optional feature to being able to count on everyone using location information and sharing this with their social network.

Location may well be the next big feature for mass adoption, but perhaps the value to the market will not in broadcasting where you are to everyone, but in something a little bit more subtle?