Contextual + Social
It’s no surprise that contextual social technology is beginning to make it’s way to our pockets. Mobile applications that connect us with our friends and with a place will soon be as essential to a phone as a GPS or Camera. I’ve been working on several projects that involve some such tech and I am hugely exited by the opportunities that it presents.
Whrrl & Brightkite are two such (early) examples of this trend.
Whrrl claims to enable the discovery of places, movies, and events based on what your friends are doing. A kinda ‘intelligent personalised recommendation tool’. So rather than just find a pub, you’ll find a pub you’ll probably like because your friends like it.
Brightkite is a slightly different animal; in as much as it doesn’t seem (and I could be wrong), to be so focused on the intelligent recommendation bit, more a simple facebook vs maps type affair. You can discover who visits your favorite places, see where your friends are and what they’re up to, befriend, chat with people around you and track mates etc. All in real time.
I don’t know quite how good either of these services will be, I guess that depends on who acquires them. The point is that this technology is already upon us - and that’s well exciting.
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