loopt

Danyel cued us into loopt, a startup in Palo Alto that is using maps and GPS locations to keep people networked through their cellphones. From their website:

"loopt turns your cell phone into a friend finder with detailed maps that show exactly who is where."

Your friends show up as pushpins on a city map including a short message they've written, a timestamp for the update, and their distance from your current location. Some of the scenarios they support include:

• Getting alerts when friends are nearby

• Pinging ("Chirping") friends when you find them on the map

• Sending messages to a group

• Sending messages through the web

• Sending proximity messages to anyone within a certain distance of you

There is also a social networking profile associated with your loopt account and you can do cool things like journal and include a photo you take with your camera phone in your status update. The companion web interface is pretty sexy too!

It looks like they've accomplished a lot of the scenarios that Cluster is hoping to, though their emphasis seems to be on location with their own social network as a companion whereas Cluster wants to enhance existing social networking paradigms with location information. The difference might be subtle but it'll be interesting to see how the design will reflect it.