Spotify plus Ticketmaster. Mint plus Match. Groupon plus Facebook Places, plus Foursquare, plus Gowalla.... Why don't more social, tech, and data services quit brushing by each other and get to smushing? Here are five ideas to break the ice.

According to a report out today by Nielsen, a whopping 59% of females and 52% of males have privacy concerns when it comes to location-based services.

"I mean, we're so small that anybody can probably swallow us up tomorrow for the right price," says Holger Luedorf, Foursquare's VP of mobile and partnerships.

According to a report released Friday by Forrester Research, location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla are attracting the wealthier demographics.

Location-based social networks are getting a lot of media attention and many businesses are experimenting with incorporating these services into their marketing mix. However, will these services truly go mainstream? Some have questioned whether LBS provide true business value for brands.

Check-in service Gowalla launches iteration 3.0 today, an entirely redesigned and rebuilt version of the location-based app that blurs the lines between its competitors Facebook Places, Foursquare, Twitter, and Tumblr.