Brightkite hands out some beta invites
Today we began handing out the first private beta accounts off of our invite list. The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
Brightkite is a location-based social network that enables people to take their online profiles with them into the real-world and make real-world friends. Users can see where their friends are and what they’re up to all while maintaining comprehensive degrees of privacy to non-friends. Depending on a user’s privacy setting they can also be open to meeting others nearby.
Brightkite has been designed from the ground up to be accessible to everyone regardless of carrier or how fancy your phone is. Currently there are a handful of location-based social networks that exist within the walled gardens of carriers or courtyards of the fancy iPhone. How fun is a social network when only a small percentage of your friends (and potential friends) can use it? Brightkite has been designed to be device & carrier agnostic. Although rich media devices such as iPhone obviously offer a better user experience, at the lowest level you can interact with Brightkite via text message (SMS), web and iPhone.
SMS Interface – Although these text messages are shown on a fancy phone, you can interact with Brightkite on any phone via text message (SMS).
If you are waiting for an invite we hope it arrives soon. You can also get in by finding a friend with an invite. Once you’re in, so are your friends. In the meantime, below are some select screen shots of the live Brightkite beta web interface:
Around Me – View users nearby your current location. See what they are up to. Make new friends.
Brightkite Universe – View all the public activity on Brightkite. Notice the posts from the Maldives; the service is not limited to the US.
Live Friends Map – See where your friends are at a neighborhood, city, state and world zoom level.
Place Pages – See who visits your favorite places and what they post there, in real-time.
Visited Places – Keep track of all the places you go.
Sharing – Brightkite can share your content with Twitter & Fire Eagle
Brightkite iPhone Application – The Brightkite iPhone application is coming very soon.
Posted by Brady Becker at 6:03 PM in Brightkite, Product, Twitter 20 comments
Wow, just found this site, and this sounds like an incredible service.
OK, OK, I admit I entered my email address just this morning… but I really can't wait no more! :-( Pleeaaaaase send me an invite. I am really into this kind of services and I would love to use it. Come on, please, please, please, … :-D
I'm loving every feature of this, functioning well, meeting people around me.. Just too perfect I don't have much words to put through. And for now I can't wait for the iPhone app. :)
Working hard on it…good things come to those who wait ;)
Please can I get a beta invite??? I'm on your list and have been waiting… please??? I'll write about it on my blog, tell all my twitter Facebook Pownce Jaiku friends, and/or shout it to the rooftops…
Send me your email address, and I'll get you one…contact info is at http://brightkite.com/contact
Nice to see some CO love on the interwebs :)
Dangit! I just missed the invites. Way to go, guys. Looks nice.
I love the idea, but I'm a little lost as to what to do. A couple video tutorials would be helpful.
Please, please can I have one invite. I am visitor tha discovered you from Stowe's post and I think your service will be a must!
Thank you
Your signup page is horridly overwhelmed. I've tried over the last 4 hours countless times… one time it took 24 MINUTES to process the AJAX check for used names… and despite all kinds of attempts I'm still not in and now all the names I would ever use as a account name "is aleady in use" even though they weren't when I tried originally and can't login as them.
You've got some scale up issues, folks.
Hey guys — I'm a web entrepreneur and technologist and would love to play with Brightkite. Can you approve my invite? Looks awesome from the screenshots
We're aware of it…today has been extremely crazy, so your best bet is to give it a little bit of time and try again. We are moving to bigger and better servers as we speak.
Thanks for hanging in there.
hey guys, the design looks cool. cant wait to get the beta invite or is it possible to approve my invite ? :p
Seriously do you have an ETA for the iphone app? I'm crapping my pants over here! (BTW I am loving what your doing here!)
Would love to check out the service!
Count the GuruConnector in!!!
could i get an invite please?
I want Brightkite! How can I get an invite?