TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Groupme has launched a cool new feature today, in advance of tomorrow’s Foursquare hackday. People who link their Foursquare accounts to Groupme here can now pull up an interface of all Foursquare friends in the vicinity of their last checkin. You can then select which friends you want to be a part of a texting group, and the app will notify those selected with a text and the group’s number.
This is first group texting app I’ve seen to incorporate geo-location — The feature is perfect for the use cases of Coachella-like music festivals, sprawling tech conferences like SXSW or any other place where tons of smartphone wielding individuals tend to congregate in large groups.
From the Groupme blog:
“Imagine it with us: you’re at a concert and notice on Foursquare that a bunch of your friends are there too. But you don’t know where they are or how to get everyone together. You open up groupme.com/foursquare on your phone, check off all their names, and you’re instantly dropped into a GroupMe. With one text, everyone can plan where to go next.”
Groupme is also open sourcing much of the code behind the new feature, humorously naming it after pop singer John Mayer.
Right now the feature isn’t integrated into either service’s mobile app and can only be accessed by those sober enough to remember to visit groupme.com/foursquare on web or on mobile. Hopefully Groupme will use some of its $10.6 million in funding to develop in-app integration some time soon, before SXSWi preferably.
GroupMe helps people stay connected and get together better with their friends. GroupMe’s two core offerings are: GroupMe, the group mobile messaging service, and Experiences, a service for finding, planning and purchasing group activities. GroupMe is based in New York and was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci in May 2010 at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. In August 2011, GroupMe was acquired by Skype, which was subsequently acquired by Microsoft in October 2011. For more information, please visit...
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