I know where you are, good buddy

Suzanne Choney • E-mail

Their names — Loopt, Whrrl, Brightkite, GyPSii, Buddy Beacon — allude to their mission, letting friends know where other friends are geographically using cell phones.

The social networking programs represent some of the location-based services that are starting to take hold as mobile users move more of their day-to-day lives onto their phones.

"It's just the logical continuation of the always-being-connected generation we have now, where everybody is tied to a wireless umbilical cord — and knows exactly where everybody is who is close and dear to their hearts," said Roger Enter of IAG Research.

Even as fun as the services sound, there are privacy issues to consider. And because the notion is relatively new, with most services having started in the past couple years, there isn't major momentum yet.

"I don't have any friends that would have …(the desire) to use this app or service," wrote one person on a blog about Loopt. "Without other people who you know added to the app, it's a pretty lonely interface."

But interest in networking programs is high, especially from cell carriers which reap the benefit of extra revenue from data and text messaging charges that apply when such programs are used.

By 2013, revenues from "location-based, mobile social networking" is estimated to reach $3.3 billion, ABI Research said in a recent report.

At least one phone manufacturer is getting directly in the action. Earlier this summer, Nokia said it will acquire Plazes, a Berlin-based company whose Web and mobile programs let users plan, record and share their activities and where they are at any given time, according to the wireless phone maker.

iPhone spurs interest
And while social networking location-based services are available for a variety of makes of phones, there's no question that the new iPhone and Apple's online App Store, which makes such programs available, has spurred activity.

Many Web sites already offer the ability to locate friends using the Internet. Yahoo just announced its own service, Fire Eagle, which works either via computer or cell phone.

"Mobile social networking sites allow avid networkers to constantly remain connected with their members and receive updates on the spot, weakening their tether to the PC," according to a Current Analysis research report by wireless data analyst Deepa Karthikeyan.

Most programs "are primarily targeted at young adults and teens," said Karthikeyan said in an e-mail interview.

Entner, who has tracked wireless trends for many years, agreed, but said, "It's going to be similar to text messaging. It caught on (first with younger people), and now it's propagating through the age segments."

"It's without question a growth category," said Joseph Farren of CTIA-The Wireless Association, the cell phone industry trade group.

Loopt, one of the most prominent services, shows users where their friends are on a map, and if their friends want to, they can send a message and photos back along with their location. It can be a way to get your buddies to come join you, or simply to let them know what you're up to.

There are also "journals," where users can leave comments about places they've been that other Loopt users can read. Loopt works with the iPhone, several models of BlackBerrys, and dozens of other brands of phones.

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