The trend in web 2.0 has been that of greater interaction and more connectivity. Many social networks mushroomed up to fulfill the social urge of humans on web and only very few succeeded. The launch of Apple iPhone 3G has given new aspirations to the developers about making it big on social media. Web companies are running after for making gold in mobile networks now. There are now many mobile networks which we have decided to review but we only considered networks which have realized the opportunity of being on iPhone platform.
Location-based services still are considered the breakthrough mobile applications because technology such as GPS, mapping, geo tagging, and social networks are enabling new hardware, software, and user behavior, making Whrrl and another friend tracker, Loopt, possible. My favo are Whrrl and loopt, which is yours let me know? click for more, to see a list of all mobile networks that are rampant and are growing by the day. Open social movement is getting placed with strong roots and over time on all popular web social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter it is seen that trust is established between everybody involved, people will feel more comfortable using a services like Whrrl.
Whrrl is being seen as a combination of twitter and yelp but it is a lot cooler than just that! You can invite your friends or connect with new people in the Whrrl social community. Every location that has been touched on the Whrrl map will have a sign showing you how it ranks. For example, a green plus sign means the place has received mostly positive reviews but a grey dot means that it has not yet been touched, meaning there’s no activity affiliated with it yet. You can create events, meetups at different places and even “check in†to a location to show your friends where you are at any time.
Juicecaster is a juicy mobile network which allows you to update mobile status on twitter and facebook, upload pics on photobucket and your blogs (livejournal, typepad, blogger). You can also share videos which you have shot with your camera phone while juicecaster will keep you entertained with free videos on its network. Oh yes, you can also make friends on the juicecaster network. The application which you need to download has exclusive privileges for AT&T users.
Where helps you find or connect with what you want at the moment be it hotel, gas station or coffee house. Where gets you info from Eventful, Yelp, GasBuddy, Zipcar, ShopLocal, Starbucks, Buddy Beacon® and more. The application can be downloaded on iPhone as well as Nokia and Blackberry phones. You can stay connected with friends on this one through Buddy Beacon feature.
iFob acts as an ice breaker and works between two or more iFob users only and only when they are so close enough that they could smile at each other. Not a website only an apllication which alerts you about other iFob users. Can be installed on PC, mac, iPod and iPhone. Mark people as interesting if you want to meet them in future and boring if not.It can only work in public hotspots.
Brightkite is a location-based social networking and the tricky part is that it does not require GPS. You can chat with others and find where your friends are up to in real time while you can also create new friends.
Loopt lets you connect with friends and alerts you when they are nearby. You can share your location with others and explore events and places recommended by friends. Unlike some mobile networks Loopt cares about your privacy and you can regulate it. It supports over 80 phones(including iPhone) on Sprint, Nextel, AT&T, Boost, T mobile and Verizon. It has a web version too which you can use if in case you don’t have the supported handset which I believe would be rare.
Zintin is presently only on iPhone and it does not fancy a lot. It lets you discover, share and engage with opther similar Zintin users and you can interact with them using walls or by sharing pictures.
Dodgeball is only present in 22 US cities as of now but it looks like a very promising network. You can make friends and you will be alerted about his updates. It is anot an application and just a mobile service which means you don’t need to install anything and you can be part of it without owning a better phone too. The beauty of Dodgeball is that it alerts you whenever some of your friend is within 10 blocks from you, the same applies to friend of friend too. You can see the people in your friend’s network and have crushes too. You will be informed whenever your crush is within 10 yards so that you can prepare yourself to make an impression.
Spotjots says that your life is interesting so jot it. You share your location and what you are doing with others and others do the same so you have a network where every friend knows about other friend. You can also create new buddies and learn about new places you should visit or avoid. It is available on Blackberry and latest Nokia phones apart from iPhone.
Jaiku is a mobile client too which can also do what others in this category cancan like sharing location, what you are doing, availability etc. It has browser based support for iPhone on m.jaiku.com while a mobile client download for S60 phones is available. Jaiku has been acquired by google and it seems like a clone of twitter. This one is also available on PC.
Gypsii has mainly Chinese users and it doesn’t have any claim to fame apart from regular “making friends, sharing location in real time”. It supports iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian handsets and Windows mobiles as well.
Zkout is pronounced as skout. It has the same social angle of finding friends if they are near you, live maps, images and videos, chat and comment, meet new people in your area etc. I didn’t find many users when I logged in and I am not very impressed with this one either. Available on iPhone or PC.
Limbo is a very popular mobile social network in USA with over 2 million users, it covers games, sports news alerts, and generally casual interaction among its users. Fun above all else, in other words. And it’s operable on most any mobile device and any US wireless carrier through a mixture of text-messaging and mobile Web options. They even have an iPhone application. The most interesting features of Limbo is their activity matching, you can also find people doing specific things, that you would like to do and you can contact them to join in. Creating amazing opportunity of like minded people to join in for something. Limbo is a cross platform application, with more cool features like viral location finder and group chat.
Drop in your comments, let me know your thoughts on this!
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