SAN FRANCISCO - The integration of social media into location-based services is going to change the way brands are able to engage and communicate with consumers.

During the ?What?s Hot About LBS? panel at CTIA Wireless, speakers discussed how location-based services are a shape-shifter for both enterprises and consumers. The panel was moderated by Phil Hendrix, director and analyst at GigaOM, San Francisco.

?The brands, from the merchant perspective, are going to be the critical piece,? said Rob Reed, founder/CEO of MomentFeed, Los Angeles. ?The brands have the customers and location-based services have the channel.

?Location-based services are the superior channel,? he said. ?Would you rather have a 100,000 fans on your Facebook pages or have those same fans engage with you in-store.

?All location-based marketing has presence and brands want to migrate their customers over through this channel, whether through Foursquare or something else.?

Other panelists included Ian Heidt, project lead of Neer at Qualcomm Services Labs, San Francisco; Larry Magid, technology analyst at CBS News, San Francisco; Eghosa Omoigui, independent tech  investor, San Francisco; Sanjaya Krishna, principal and U.S. digital services leader at KPMG, New York; Laura Diaz, strategic partners and business development at Verizon Wireless, New York; and Lawrence Coburn, founder/CEO of DoubleDutch, San Francisco.

It?s all about consumers
According to Qualcomm's Mr. Heidt, although location is a big thing for consumers, he predicts that the future of location-based services will have a social overlay.

?If you look at the current services, it?s the maps feature that is the ultimate function of location that dominates,? Mr. Heidt said. ?Social is going to change things ? it?s the places and people that you  care about so that is going to be important to you.?

CBS News? Mr. Magid agreed that maps are important.

?Obviously maps are important,? Mr. Magid said. ?For a hundreds of years people have used maps and there?s no doubt that location-based services has enhanced maps.

?As far as privacy, there are safety implications for geotagging in photographs,? he said. ?If a picture of my house is posted, I might not want the world to know that location."

Mr. Magid said that the field is in its infancy, but he suspects that the killer app has not been imagined yet.

?I think that we?re going to see something emerge,? Mr. Magid said. ?I just can?t figure out what it is."

Value of location
The real value for location-based services is to find out what consumers want to do and where they want to go.

?It?s all about offering a menu of incentives,? Intel Capital?s Mr. Omoigui said. ?It?s all about bringing those opportunities over and over again.

?The Starbucks coupon example should be shot,? he said. ?The reason why is because there are people who don?t like Starbucks.

?Intervening with somebody?s workflow while they only drink Pete?s coffee is offending ? where is the intelligence layer??

Mobile incentives
There has to be some sort of tangible things that the user gets in return for consistent engagement.

?It?s about providing return,? DoubleDutch's Mr. Coburn said. ?We need to find a way to make location drive the bottom line in companies.

?The market is moving a lot faster than we thought,? he said.

Big brands versus small ones
Although many companies are using location-based technology, bricks-and-mortar stores can also incorporate it into their mobile incentives.

?It?s a superior channel,? MomentFeed?s Mr. Reed said. ?But the problem is educating all of those mom and pop stores.

?Foursquare is a great solution for those cases,? he said.