As of August, only 4 percent of American adults who used the Internet also used location-based services, which allow people to “check in” to physical locations via their cellphones to earn coupons or keep up with friends, the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reported last week. And only 1 percent of Internet users are on such services on any given day, an indication that those who do use the services still have not integrated them into their daily lives.

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Specific user data is valuable to advertisers because it allows them to target their marketing efforts more effectively. With social networking, hundreds of millions of people are willing to provide access to that data in exchange for a service they find useful, even while many express concerns about their privacy.

“Many people are in a more ‘transactional’ frame of mind” when it comes to their personal information, said Lee Rainie, the director of the Internet and American Life Project. “They will share information if they think they can get something of value for it.”

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