Location based iPhone app mini review; Brightkite vs Foursquare vs Whrrl & what's next?

Posted on September 3, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

For those of you who follow me on Twitter know what I’m a huge Brightkite fan. I’ve been using the service since it launched and was in private beta. I’m not sure what came next Whrrl or Loopt but when they were launched I decided to give them a try also but neither stuck with me like Brightkite as I found Loopt to be very “spammy” by sending out unwanted messages to my contacts and Whrrl web and mobile app user interface wasn’t as easy to navigate or understand as Brighkite at the time. This was around mid year 2008. Since then a lot has changed for Loopt and Whrrl as for usability and functions but Brightkite seems to have stayed with their core features and design.

New to the location based iPhone app scene is foursquare, which was launched in March of this year during SXSW. Foursquare which seem to be a dodgeball.com spin-off focuses on “ways to explore a city.” allowing “checkins” to various locations in which the more you check-in, the more badges you’re able to unlock. Foursquare is limited to major US cities at the moment but last week I was able to travel to NY and have the opportunity to “play” foursquare. Just like other location based apps foursquare is a social network and has both Twitter and Facebook integration. Unlike brightkite or Whrrl foursquare allows only text based updates and where the other two allow you to post photos. Either way, foursquare seems to have caught the attention of geeks early adopter world, but why? A few things foursquare does over the other location based apps that make users stick is the game mentality of the service. The more you check-in at various locations the more badges you unlock. Foursquare also awards it users by giving them “mayor” badges at locations they visit more frequently than others. Another game like feature is the city leaderboard that’s updated by the day to show the person with the most check-ins.

As with all location based apps there’s always the security concern as sharing to much information. Something I found out while hanging with Brett Petersel in NY is that if you’re friends with someone then you can send them a direct SMS text message from the app allowing users to see your mobile number. We think you have to be friends for that to happen if not that’s a major security flaw.

Still while in NY I used contintued to use Brightkite to check-in add new friends and post photos as it’s still my favorite location based service. A few features that brightkite has over foursquare is the ability to upload photos and have them post to flickr and Facebook. Brightkite’s focus is to have conversations around a location.

As for Whrrl, I used it a couple times at during my NYC trip but between trying to check-in with foursquare and brightkite I often didn’t check-in as I think about using Whrrl more at conferences and events vs random day to day check-ins but I’m continue to evaluate my usage of the service. Whrrl also has done a great job of listening to it users about usability and features. The Whrrl iPhone app version 2.0 and website are a vast improvement over the service initial launch.

When it comes to Loopt, I haven’t used the service enough to really evaluate it and I’m not sure if I ever will. (sorry guys).

Here’s an excerpt from a blog post that Kipp Bodnar and I co-wrote for Louis Gray about the business impact of using brightkite but it also apples to other location based services.

Business Impact of using location based apps

As more businesses are using social media to reach new customers or engage with existing ones online, the business impact of using location-based services can be huge for companies looking to reach targeted local users. We’re already seeing companies using twitter for coupons or promotions and that’s great but what if you wanted to reach people who you knew that visited your company previously or worked near by. With Brightkite you can easily do location based advertising by the block, or city and go beyond advertising to understand the real-word referrers that normally send people to your business.

What’s next?
As for what’s next in the location based apps battle, my guess is augmented reality. Already I’ve seen a brightkite augmented reality mashup and the upgraded yelp iPhone app has augmented reality built-in too. My guess we’ll see other web based apps start to use location based services for marking and building niche communities by location. The question is will they partner with an existing service like Brightkite, Whrrl and foursquare.. only time will tell. Also I think we’ll start seeing the ability to upload video to both Brightkite and Whrrl from the iPhone (I hope).

By the way, no I didn’t go to NY just to play foursqare

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About the Author

Written by Wayne Sutton

Wayne is the business development/marketing strategist for TriOut and partner at OurHashtag. For more, follow SocialWayne.com on Twitter, Buzz, and Facebook. Also check out the SocialWayne Podcast in iTunes. See all posts by Wayne Sutton.

Tags: apps augmented reality based brightkite cites foursquare future Geo-Location iPhone loopt nyc Social Media social networks Technology Video whrrl yelp

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Featured, Social Media, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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We'd love to hear yours!

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September 3, 2009

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Jason Keath said:

Great breakdown Wayne.

What about Google latitude?
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September 3, 2009

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Wayne Sutton said:

Thanks Jason, I used Google latitude to change my location to NY but that was about it. I have yet to really see the value in Google Latitude. I think once Google makes latitude part of an existing service like reader or wave, latitude is irrelevant.

Wayne
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September 4, 2009

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John Kim said:

Wayne,

Thank you for being open minded and for considering us.

I am bummed that you did not fully explore our collaboration model. One of Whrrl’s clear differentiators is our focus on the participatory web.

Let us know if you are planning a refresh in the future.

@jkimlosangeles
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September 4, 2009

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Wayne Sutton said:

John, thanks for the comment. I’ll check out the collaboration model in Whrrl and be in touch.

Thanks

Wayne
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September 4, 2009

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Christian said:

what else ?
do you guys review or try mobnotes app, the most download lbs app from iTunes Europe, “selected app” from apple team ?
you should compare to other apps!
try “faces” very similar to google latitude and we are on apple store
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September 4, 2009

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Otto said:

I too prefer BrightKite.

Friends of mine tried to get me on Loopt, but it seems pretty pointless overall. All it is is a map with my friends location on it. Not very useful.

Latitude is interesting, but not quite yet. They have to integrate it into other things to add functionality before it becomes truly useful.

It’s also worth noting that BrightKite has FireEagle support, meaning that it can push your location to the Yahoo FireEagle service, which you can then use with hundreds of other Apps to do anything from post your location on your blog to put it on your facebook page to record it in your personal tracker or anything else.

Another good one: Navizon. It’s free for basic use, or $10 to get the pro version which lets you get your “trails” sort of thing. The difference between Navizon and others is that its updating your location in real-time. There’s a jailbreak version of the App that can run in the background and update your location every 10 minutes, even when it’s not running. When it is running, it’ll update every 10 seconds. It also collects info on nearby WiFi and uses that to help improve accuracy. It’ll even work for users *without GPS* because of this data collection (iTouch, for example). Their website is very low-rent, but it has friend support and the ability to push location data to FireEagle as well.
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September 4, 2009

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Cassie Wallender said:

While I appreciate the conversation you’ve started here, I wonder how different your reviews would be if you live in NYC. I play foursquare, use BK, and Whrrl, and I find they’re all much better when you have lots of friends on the service to interact with. They all have their strengths, but it’s mostly about hitting critical mass with my social group, then you’ve got me hooked.
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September 6, 2009

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jbrotherlove said:

Nice, succinct wrap-up, Wayne. I have a similar review in draft. I use both services and find it interesting foursquare has taken off so fast.

It’s a fun concept to be sure. But I’ve found that the longer I use it (I’ve hit the #1 spot and have most of my city’s badges), the less value “the game” has for me.

Brightkite, on the other hand, is more about sharing what happens at the location. The addition of pics, comments, permalinks and granular privacy settings makes it my preferred location service.
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September 6, 2009

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Wayne Sutton said:

@jbrotherlove thanks for the comment. I’ve heard that a few times about foursquare. I wonder will they be adding more features now they have some VC money?
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October 9, 2009

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Steve Fisher said:

Wayne,

I too used Britekite for a while but the going to a few places really didn’t hold my interest. Foursquare is neat and I am in between Baltimore and DC so I am part of DC but adding lots of places in Baltimore and Columbia, MD. The game and point aspect keeps us competitive people going. Yelp needs to but Foursquare like NOW. Can you imaging integrating this functionality with their massive location/yellow page list and reviews? Awesome.

Talk to you soon.
-steve
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December 11, 2009

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birddogbjr said:

You should consider reviewed ‘closed loop’ location apps like Inner Circle. Great for those of us concerned about our privacy!
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July 13, 2010

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Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Brightkite - 04. Sep, 2009
RT @waynesutton: Location based iPhone app mini review; Brightkite vs Foursquare vs Whrrl & what’s next? http://socialwayne.com/pvc
Lesley Yarbrough - 04. Sep, 2009
RT @waynesutton: Location based iPhone app mini review; Brightkite vs Foursquare vs Whrrl & what’s next? http://socialwayne.com/pvc
Wayne Sutton - 04. Sep, 2009
I picked a good week to blog about location based iPhone apps with all the news today http://socialwayne.com/pvc
Wayne Sutton - 06. Sep, 2009
@lynneluvah here’s my answer: http://socialwayne.com/pvc
Lynne d Johnson - 06. Sep, 2009
@james3neal thanks i’m reading @waynesutton brightkite vs foursquare now http://tinyurl.com/ksdn25 i’ve never used brightkite but love 4sqr
James Neal - 06. Sep, 2009
@lynneluvah – No problem. I knew @waynesutton would be a good person to query. I’m reading his post too. – http://is.gd/2Yiuc
Mika Pyyhkala - 10. Sep, 2009
RT @waynesutton: Location based iPhone app mini review; Brightkite vs Foursquare vs Whrrl & what’[..] – http://tinyurl.com/ksdn25
C Carter - 15. Sep, 2009
Location based iPhone app mini review; @Brightkite vs @Foursquare vs @Whrrl & what’s next? - http://bit.ly/Wkxnk
Wayne Sutton - 09. Oct, 2009
Hmm @stoweboyd @brett here's my foursquare vs brightkite post: http://bit.ly/12DCCv @Foursquare not in NC yet. I guess we're not cool huh?
Mikael Nemeschansky - 22. Nov, 2009
I prefer Brightkite over Foursquare… though the game like feature of Foursquare seems fun. http://bit.ly/7m3vzY
jeff gibbard - 22. Apr, 2010
Great post on Foursquare vs BrightKite vs Whrrl by @waynesutton http://bit.ly/h6xzZ
Wayne Sutton - 22. Apr, 2010
.@jgibbard thanks, forgot about that location-based post & that was back in Sept. 09 http://bit.ly/h6xzZ

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Wayne Sutton helps individuals, startups and businesses succeed in understanding how to communicate on the social web via brand strategy, social networks and location-based services. Wayne is the business development/marketing strategist for TriOut and partner at OurHashtag.