Maybe I'm too old to "get it" or maybe it's because I'm not in an urban area, but I really don't see the value-add in location-based social networks. I use Twitter a lot and I use Facebook a good amount. How does adding a location component improve the overall experience for me?

It doesn't.

I already know when my close friends are in town or out of town. If I want to know what they're doing on a Saturday night, I'll text them. It's 5x faster than launching an app and looking for their marker on a map.

Oh, and that chunk of the population that–like me–are married and have children ... I don't need a Gowalla or Foursquare to tell me where they are. They're most likely at work or at home. And they're using Facebook to connect with their friends–because their location doesn't matter.

You can argue that they just "need to gain traction" or "need to grow faster", but maybe the answer to this title is that they simply aren't any more useful than Facebook.

Location-based services are great for local commerce, probably great for dating, maybe handy at large events/conferences, but for basic social networking ... meh.