Brightkite: Give it a try, or go fly one?

You've used Twitter and Dodgeball, but have you tried Brightkite? It's the latest and greatest location-centric web app to come to our attention.

What does it do that the others don't you ask? Good question. Right at login, you're prompted with the question "What's Happening?" Sound familiar?

All kidding aside though, they are geographic centric and allow you to check in from wherever you are in the world. By simply typing in an address or searching for a business, you can immediately let all of your friends (and the world if you choose) know exactly where you are. On the flip side, you can see where your friends are and with an SMS shortcode, "join them" automagically.

Brightkite is attempting to do what others have failed at. That being the ability to get people to use their site consistently, update their location, and be absolutely fine with the world knowing where they are and not just what they're doing.

Here are some of Brightkite's features:

• "Brightkite Universe" which is basically Twitter, except you can post photos.
• "Visited Places" which archives all of the places you've actually remembered to update from
• "Placemarks" which is actually a pretty nice feature that lets you bookmark places you may visit often or would like to visit
• Mobile features that let you get pinged whenever your buddy goes to the Wal-mart.
  

The interface is slick, you have to give them that. The catch? It's invite only at the moment.

Would you share your geographical location with the world on a consistent basis? Tell us some cool places you'd update from in the comments and we'll give away 5 Brightkite invites to the most interesting places!

Tags: brightkite, location, twitter