Brightkite is a location-based social networking website that is available on any mobile device. Users "check in" at places by using text messaging or one of the mobile applications and they can see who is nearby and who has been there before. The service was created in 2007 by Brady Becker, Martin May and Alan Seideman who previously founded the SMS notification service Loopnote. In April 2009 Brightkite was acquired by mobile social network

Mobile social network

Mobile social networking is social networking where one or more individuals of similar interests or commonalities, conversing and connecting with one another using the mobile phone. Much like web based social networking, mobile social networking occurs in virtual communities. A current trend for...

 Limbo.

Overview

Brightkite allows registered users to connect with their existing friends and also meet new people based on the places that they go. Once a user "checks in" at a place, they can post notes and photos to that location and other users can comment on these posts. Users control the privacy of their updates and can choose to share them with their Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 and Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 accounts, while also having the option to share their geotagged photo posts to Flickr

Flickr

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...

.

Brightkite is available worldwide.

Brightkite currently has applications for Android, iOS (iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

), and Symbian

Symbian

Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...

.

Android app

The Brightkite Android app also uses the phone's GPS to locate the user and has many of the same features as the iPhone app. Notable additions include mapping and background notifications.

iPhone app

The Brightkite iPhone app uses the iPhone's geolocation features to automatically locate the user. From the app a user can check in, post a note or photo, send messages, browse their friend and nearby streams, and access their account settings.

The Brightkite Wall

The Brightkite Wall is a visualization tool that shows real-time updates from a place, user, or keyword. Users also have the option to display posts from Twitter containing a specific hashtag.

• The Mattress Factory
  Mattress Factory
  The Mattress Factory is a museum of contemporary art located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It exhibits room-sized installation art by regional, national and international artists....
  
   Art Museum uses the Brightkite Wall in the museum lobby as a way to communicate with visitors.

Related applications

Brightkite has a public application programming interface

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

 (API) available to build websites and applications that augment the official website.

• Oscar Mayer
  Oscar Mayer
  Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Foods, known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon and Lunchables products.-History:...
  
  uses Brightkite to track their Wienermobile
  Wienermobile
  A "Wienermobile" is an automobile shaped like a hot dog on a bun that is used to promote and advertise Oscar Mayer products. It was created in 1936 by Oscar's nephew, Carl G. Mayer, and variants are still used by Oscar Mayer today. In 2004, Oscar Mayer announced a contest whereby customers could...
  
  s across the country on their Hotdogger Blog.

See also

• dokiru?
• Location-based service
  Location-based service
  A Location-Based Service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device....
  
  
• Geosocial Networking
  Geosocial networking
  Geosocial Networking is a type of social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted location data or geolocation techniques can allow social networks to connect and coordinate users with...
  
  

Other Services

• Facebook Places
• Fire Eagle
  Fire Eagle
  Fire Eagle is a Yahoo! owned service that acts as a store for a user's location. It was created at Yahoo Brickhouse by a team which included among others Tom Coates, Simon Willison, and Seth Fitzsimmons....
  
  
• Foursquare
  Foursquare (service)
  Foursquare, stylized as foursquare, is a location-based social networking website for mobile devices, such as smartphones. Users "check-in" at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby...
  
  
• Gbanga
  Gbanga
  Gbanga is a mixed reality, social gaming platform for mobile phones developed by Zurich-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time locative media, developed in-house, which means that the gaming environment changes relative to the players real-world location...
  
  
• Geomium
  Geomium
  Geomium is a location-based social networking website, and iPhone application. Unlike many other location-based services which focus on a single type of information, such as places or events, Geomium combines places, events, deals and people all into a single application. It aggregates its...
  
  
• Google Latitude
  Google Latitude
  Google Latitude is a location-aware mobile app developed by Google as a successor to their earlier SMS-based service Dodgeball. Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account, the user's cell phone location is mapped on...
  
  
• Gowalla
  Gowalla
  Gowalla is a location-based social network. Users 'check in' at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive virtual "items" from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for...
  
  

• Hotlist
  Hotlist
  Hotlist is a geo-social networking aggregator that enables users to coordinate plans with friends and discover what will be happening at millions of popular venues all over the world...
  
  
• Loopt
  Loopt
  Loopt is a company based in Mountain View, California, United States. Loopt produces mobile Location-based services that allow users to discover the world around them, and find and enjoy the friends, places and events around them....
  
  
• Koprol
  Koprol
  Koprol, since 25 May 2010 called Yahoo! Koprol, is an Indonesian social networking service, allowing users to connect based on location. Mobile users can use the site as a positioning service, without the need for a GPS receiver...
  
  
• Scvngr
  Scvngr
  SCVNGR is a social location-based gaming platform for mobile phones. The application has both a consumer and enterprise component. Companies, educational institutions, and organizations can build challenges, the core unit of their game, at places on SCVNGR from the web. The service also supports SMS...
  
  
• Socialight
  Socialight
  Socialight is a location-based social media platform that lets people and editorial publishers connect rich media content to real-world physical locations. Its users can create, browse and share virtual "Sticky Notes" tied to any location worldwide...