Urthecast intends to build, launch and install two cameras on Russia’s Energia. These HD cameras will stream live footage of Earth from outer space, providing the world something it has never experienced before.  In other words, it will be a more dynamic version of Google Earth.

An unique aspect of Urthecast is the real-time social layer the company promises to integrate onto their website. Users will be able to tweet and update their statuses to a location somewhere on Earth. By doing so, the business hopes to make the website ‘stickier’ and provide more interesting content.

However, there are privacy issues with the social media proposal. Some users may not feel comfortable with the world knowing their whereabouts. The corporation has decided to deal with that by creating profiles for the users so they can control what is tweeted and updated. Nonetheless, even if the users can control what they are uploading, will they upload content? There is a possibility users might not upload content if they do not feel safe posting things on the website. If this is the general concensus with most users, then the social media layer will cease to exist.

In order for the privacy concern to be minimized, the company should allow the user to choose who can see where they are. Perhaps a system similar to Facebook that gives users the option to change privacy settings to only allowing their friends to view who they are rather than the general public should be implemented.

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