Loopt: Linking A Social Network To The Real World

There are moments, strange, unaccountably optimistic moments, where the world and web collide, blurring the lines between what is analog and what is digital. Now we’re not talking about virtual worlds, though Second Life does give the topic a run for its money, we’re talking about applications that are so interrelated with our physical world that you’d have to whisper the yet undefined “web 3.0″ to describe it.

In the past we saw some uncommon approaches to microblogging physical text and geographing, but with new capabilities in global positioning and geospatial sensing becoming a standard in mobile phones, the relevance between our physical world and the web just went through the roof.

Just in time for the release of the iPhone, comes Loopt, one of the latest applications to take advantage of location technology and apply it toward social networking. Balancing cell id, wi-fi/gps, and a web based interface, Loopt tells you the location of your friends, mashing it up with a map for easy discovery. This sounds like a lot, and it is. Billing itself as a “social compass,” Loopt offers many of the features we’ve come to expect from a social network (texting, blogging, IM), yet its the map and positioning mashup that puts this social network in a class of its own.

Imagine you’re on the town, with time to kill. Open up Loopt, check your messages, then check the Loopt map. Your friends, along with what they’re up to, are shown on the map. If they’re close, you drop by. If they’re far, you can coordinate via Loopt for events and places to meet. On the sly? Set your privacy settings for stealth and resume your life just as you did before this new world.

Curious about Loopt? This Listio search will get you started: social networks+gps

New to Listio? Our tag cloud search offers an easy way to narrow your hunt for the perfect web application or service. No more second guessing of search terms. Just click on one tag, then as many more as you'd like to narrow your search results. It's easy and ensures you get to the listing you want. Finding web 2.0 was never so easy.

Tags: friends, geographing, gps, IM, iphone, maps, mashups, soical networks
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