Mobile
social network service Whrrl has released a new social discovery
application for Facebook. Christened ?Been
Here? Like it or Not??, it presents itself as an interactive game in which
users compete to show their friends that they are the most clued-up as to where
the best venues are in their locality and beyond.
First time users need to
enter their location and select the category of places they want to rate. The user interface then appears as an interactive
map, paired with a list of relevant local establishments. The user can rate these simply by clicking
on them, as well as indicating the names of the friends in whose company he or she visited them.
As places accumulate
ratings, their popularity or bad reputation become visible on the map in the
form of icons charged either positively (green) or negatively (red). Users themselves gain points according to the
number of places they rate and progress in status from ?Tourist? to ?A-list?,
which gives the game its competitive edge as players vie to establish which of
them is the most urbane.
The offering?s core
function, however, is that of a mobile social recommendation service, with
users able to consult their friends? maps to find places of interest when
exploring new localities in the footsteps of others.
Jon Landers, senior vice
president of marketing at Whrrl?s parent company Pelago, confirms that the application's social gaming aspect is too some extent an ancillary to its central purpose as a discovery tool,
explaining that, ?since the game draws its location information from Whrrl
there are millions of places to choose, rate and share with friends, making it
a great resource for discovering cool new hotspots in your city?.
?Been Here? Like it or
Not?? is free and can be downloaded from the Facebook applications page.