Andrew Hyde lives in Boulder, Colorado and travels frequently.

5 Uses For Brightkite

BrightKiteI’ve been impressed by the rock solid design of Brightkite.  If you don’t use it, try it out, it has an amazing community and feature set.

Here are 5 interesting extensions I have seen people using Brightkite for:

1) Use Brightkite to pick dinner. Check in, and see where everyone else has checked in.  I have done this in cities I have never been to and found a really great spot for dinner. Experimental road trip anyone?  I’ve found some amazing hotels this way too.

2) Meet people IRL. I know, crazy idea, but with the Brightkite iPhone app, you can safely chat with someone In Real Life.  Introduce yourself via a message.  Look at their profile. Invite them for a drink. I’ve met some people this way, creates for a very interesting meeting.  We had a BrightKite meetup at a baseball game during the 6th inning. Remember- privacy is key for Brightkite, so you are only meeting up with people that have opted into being public.

3) Find Rides. I check in when I get to the airport, and look for others that just landed and are looking to split a fee.  Look at where you commute to, anyone share the pattern with you?

4) Have Discussions.  Post a note asking a question, have all the responses in one place.  I know, groundbreaking, but makes it fun and you can discover new people.

5) Track Your Meals.  Take photos of what you eat everyday.  Studies show this leads to weight loss.

What is the most interesting extension you can think of?


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Comments

6 responses to “5 Uses For Brightkite”

  1. chartier Avatar
    chartier

    Brilliant list! Great ideas.

    Minor type/branding nitpick: it's Brightkite, not BrightKite.

  2. phrenologist Avatar
    phrenologist

    I think these would all be useful ideas, if brightkite had critical mass. At the moment it seems to be mainly used by people in San Francisco. I don't see enough activity going on to make any collaboration work.

    Have you seen the iphone app that talks about location sharing and uses loopt as the example. I think if that commercial were remade with brightkite instead usage would really take off. I think brightkite is a fantastic idea but it remains to be seen whether it will succeed.

  3. andrewhyde Avatar
    andrewhyde

    The lack of privacy with loopt keeps me away (no way to message another user without sending them a txt and exposing your phone number).

    We can hope brightkite continues to grow. Boulder and Denver are also very high use areas, I am sure others are growing rapidly as well. The picture at the top of this post shows were all my friends are checked in, so you can see it has spread far and wide.

  4. anthelios77 Avatar
    anthelios77

    Heh, I like those tips. Combining physical activity and 'dieting' with BrightKite sure would increase the level of accountability. Scary. ^^

    Btw, I can't wait for mashups that combine BrightKite with other services, like Yelp and locative games like geocaching.

  5. nimbus77 Avatar
    nimbus77

    Heh, I like those tips. Combining 'dieting' with BrightKite, but also exercising, sure would increase the level of accountability. Scary. ^^

    Btw, I can't wait for mashups that combine BrightKite with other services, like Yelp and locative games like geocaching.

  6. nimbus77 Avatar
    nimbus77

    Heh, I like those tips. Combining 'dieting' with BrightKite, but also exercising, sure would increase the level of accountability. Scary. ^^

    Btw, I can't wait for mashups that combine BrightKite with other services, like Yelp and locative games like geocaching.

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