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Zhiing vs BrightKite vs Loopt: Location Finder Service Apps

December 30, 2008

The Zhiing app in use on a mobile phone.

Not everybody cares about the differences between location finder apps, but since I have recently started working with the Zhiing team I was curious to check out the differences between Zhiing, brightkite and loopt.

If you have no idea what Zhiing is or does, here is a brief description: it is a location finding service that you can download to an iphone, blackberry or gps system, and internet browsers like firefox and internet explorer. You can use it in many ways, some of which I am sure that I have yet to discover. One of the main uses that I have been appreciating are the ability to send directions from the internet to your phone of the places you want to go in one click. The other is the ability to send your friends turn by turn directions to your location from your mobile phone to theirs in one click.

It just sort of cuts out on that whole time factor of writing things down, trying to shout over loud music to give a friend directions, or having to call multiple people to let them know when you have changed location. One click.

This seems particularly great for bands who have gigs in various locations around town. One click to their fan base will send directions to their next gig to all of their fans. Pretty cool. They can also download a banner to stick on their sites, and fans can put in their mobile phone number to get sent directions to their next gig.

Now on to the other location finder apps:

So far I have just started my bright kite experience, and I am finding that it is very different from Zhiing. The gist of the idea seems to be that you use the brightkite phone app to find your location, and then you send it online where your admirers can see where you are at.

I have now been waiting for over 2 minutes for brightkite to find me. Come on brightkite, you can do it!

Once brightkite finds me, (If it ever does find me) I have three options. Do I want to a.) Check in b.) Check in and Post a note or c.) Check in and post a photo?

I'm not sure who I'm checking in with, it seems to be the internet site that I signed up with to get the brightkite account. Which is now asking me for my location. Isn't the whole point of a location finder service that the application finds the location?

Okay, I'm done with brightkite for today. I just don't have the patience. I will check back with brightkite again, and feel free to let me know if you have used this service, why.

Now on to loopt. Oh, this is good. It is telling me that my "registration could not be completed because the Loopt service could not be contacted."

Well, sorry to disappoint you with a less than adequate comparison. I promise that I will continue to try brightkite and loopt, and report back on my experiences. In the meantime, download zhiing. It's really cool. You will like it.

Taymar
Social Medialite for Zhiing.com