Social networks suck if you can’t find friends that use them. This is especially true for those social networks oriented around sharing your location; for the most part, you end up knowing where you and three other people are before you get bored and give up. Following a trend made popular by Facebook, the mobile social mapping service Loopt has added a “Friends You May Know” feature to their iPhone application, allowing you to find and follow friends-of-friends without having to know their mobile number. Fun new features don’t just write them selves, though, so Loopt has also added a few advertisements throughout the application for the sake of getting some revenue out of their iPhone endeavors.
Before this release, not knowing someones mobile number also meant you couldn’t be their friend on Loopt. You could always hop into “Mix” mode, which allows you to chat with people in your general area, but making that friendship connection still required asking them to send over their digits. With this new addition, you just need to know the mobile numbers for a few of their friends. Of course, if someone doesn’t want you to know their phone number, they probably don’t want you to know where they are, either – so you’ll still need their explicit approval.
The concept has proven quite successful on other services (friend counts seemed to sky rocket when the feature was added to Facebook back in March of last year), and it should prove especially useful for Loopt. A good half dozen or more services are battling for users in the social mapping arena right now, and Google’s entry into the field doesn’t make things any easier. Add in the fact that the entire concept is fairly new and relatively foreign to most, and Loopt needs to make every possible connection as easy to discover as possible.
As mentioned above, this is the first iPhone Loopt release to carry advertisements. Nothing too obtrusive here – they went with AdMob ads, which most iPhone users should be perfectly used to seeing just about everywhere.
Oh, and the mandatory disclosure: Loopt built a special version of their application for TechCrunch users, and we consider them a sponsor. The TC’d version doesn’t carry the new friend finding feature yet unfortunately, but it should find its way in before too long.
You can find Loopt for iPhone on iTunes here. [iTunes Link]
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Useless post, if you want my opinion… Next useless post will be about Ocarina app and their new contest…
“Useless post, if you want my opinion… ”
..So what is it if we don’t?
does everyone on loopt look like a stock photo model?
Sadly Loopt’s concept is cool, but, Google will send them to the deadpool with their new offering.
Google will spread loopt on its toast, it is over.
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Подробнее: nat-pinkerton.ru
Mudak, tebya tut nikto ne poymet.
I have to disagree with the Google comments. Latitude is just another bare-bones almost useless Google version of something that will eventually be ubiquitous. Google will not compete in the social location spaces, if their current sad offerings offer any guidance.
Wow, isn’t this just a paid advertorial? I heard that the app is for gay dudes who want to meet in the restroom. Anyone else have this experience?
These ‘friend finder’ apps seem to be popping up everywhere. I think executed well and within reasonable boundaries, they will sustain and grow. However, for now, I’ll be checking the newest offerings at justaskgemalto the digital security/privacy site.
I invited all my friends to join Loopt because of the original privacy policy “You can only add people you know the phone number of”. After I get my friends on Loopt without any advance notice they make a totally opposite privacy policy. They allow me to block my location from friends. BUT they do not give me the ability to block my friends from adding one another, people they do not even know.
1) LinkedIn you have to know the email or ask the mutual friend to introduce one another. You can’t just add someone unless you really do in fact know them.
2) FaceBook you can block friends from seeing other friends.
3) MySpace you can make it so people can only add you if they know your email address.
All other major sites have protection in place.
I have written Loopt support, they reply and they do not listen to my concerns. I sent email to privacy@loopt.com and they did not even bother to reply.
I can’t see how Loopt can become the next facebook, myspace or LinkedIn when they make 100% opposite policies after they get users hooked, then they ignore customers when they express concern about new features that should never been implemented.
Народ в таких вот случаях говорит – Абросим не просит, а дадут — не бросит. :)
Любопытно, откедова такое чудо вылезло?
Занятно. Иногда такое бывает, что хоть стой хоть падай.