Location Based Social Networking

There is a growth at present lead by smart phones and the growth in the ability to geotag, images and places. A few people that I know are trialling FourSquare a mobile app which has a web presence also - FourSquare allows you to tag places that you visit be these casual visits, workplaces and make comments about them. This is great as when you visit a new location you can pick up what people have said about it - you can also gauge the number and type of people who have visited. Another similar app is Loopt which also allows this geotagging of places.
Also in here is Gowalla which has tied up with some US based promoters to offer deals to those who 'check in' at a venue.

Now there is photo networking with Mopho (mopho.to)an app which uses geotagging

What is mopho?

mopho is the fun new way to share your location by posting a photo

Other apps let you check in to a location and add a photo. With mopho, the photo is the checkin.

This isn't just location-based social networking - it's "social photography": geotagged photos enriched with metadata, comments, and likes. It's all about the photos - the real proof that you were somewhere.

Here's how it works:

1. You're celebrating your friend's birthday, and the pics you take become your checkin at that event. Your friends are notified that you're there, and your photos are automatically posted to your Facebook wall and saved on your iPhone.
2. During the event, you can see who else is around.
3. Later, you can see who else took photos at the event, and view their pictures.

Here’s how it works. The app is essentially built around the camera, requiring you to first take a photo at an event or place (bar, restaurant, business, work etc). Once you take a photo, you can add a caption and you must pin the photo to a geographic place or event. Once you publish your photo, the image, along with your location according to place or event, will be pushed to your friends who are also using the app, to Mophoto’s site and your Facebook friends, via Facebook Connect. Mophoto will soon add the ability to push to Twitter as well. On the app and site, you’re notified when your friend posts a photo and can easily see photos your friends are posting from places and events around you, giving you an opportunity to follow them in pictures. You can also comment on and “favorite” their photos.

While Gowalla allows you to publish photos with your location, Mophoto aims to differentiate itself by emphasizing the photo first, with the check-in as an afterthought.

( TechCrunch 23/04/2010)