InTown: Dopplr for Facebook

Written on 21st November 2008                                                                                                              COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

I just received a line from Sarah Kapoor. She’s a film editor and together with a friend who works as a developer for Autotext, she created the Dopplr for Facebook. Kapoor and her friend are both hardcore travelers and missed the opportunity to meet up with out-of-town friends simply and keep up with friends’ travel plans.

Where are you with New Year’s Eve?

With inTown, you can add trips and see which of your friends are in the same town. As Kapoor describes:

Going home for Thanksgiving? So is Jane, John and Joe. Planning a trip to New York for New Years? Looks like Jack will be there too. Jane saw you post your trip to New York and wants to go, too.

Dopplr app not as sophisticated

Dopplr has been built with a similar goal, though it’s more business-oriented. Their Facebook app works just fine for sharing trips, but isn’t that sophisticated when it comes to comparing your plans with those of your friends.

Moreover, inTown might be more suitable for the masses. People are used to installing Facebook apps, going through the Dopplr routine is a whole different ball-game though.

Start me up

InTown isn’t really interesting yet, as few people use the service. None of my friends have it installed yet so I can only use it to brag. Let’s see whether the app gets viral.

By the way, unlike Jack, I’m in London for New Year’s eve. Drop me a line if you want to meet up.