Will Brightkite Innovate Web Notifications?
by
on July 14, 2007,
We all know what notification systems are, right? Most web users come across and use notification systems constantly, whether they are entering their email address into a short form to be updated on the latest happenings at a website or trying to be notified when a new web service opens for beta testing or public use. There is one small problem here, that can be a setback for many people. The only way of receiving those handy notifications is to constantly check your email inbox, which, for the majority of us, limits us to a computer to access messages.
Brightkite is aiming to change that with a new service that will soon undergo beta testing. Their notification service will provide three options for website owners and content publishers to connect with their community; e-mail, instant messenger and SMS text messages (cell phones). To see what I mean, visit Brightkite’s homepage, which as of the writing of this post, has a simple way to be notified about the beta launch by any of these methods.
This could prove to be a very welcome service for those of us who find ourselves constantly entering our email address into those short forms, but who have trouble finding enough extra time in the day to check our email for the updates or notifications that are sent our way. It is a simple concept that you would have expected to have come around a while ago. Even the folks over at 37Signals took notice.
Brightkite also has plans to allow its future users to send notifications and news to their community from anywhere, when it’s happening, via a mobile device. They call this concept placestreaming (TechCrunch calls it eventstreaming) and it seems like it will give publishers and viewers a means of staying connected, even while away from the traditional internet and PC.
The makers of the service have been keeping tabs on the statistics for their beta notification, and to my surprise, instant message notifications command almost 25% of the subscriptions. SMS sign-up is still small at 2%, but it does show us that people want methods other than email.
Will Brightkite succeed? TechStars certainly hopes so, having chosen Brightkite as one of the top finalists in its competition to fund a new startup. It definitely has some promising features and a lot of hype to live up to. What do you think? Will you be waiting to try it out?
