This is the second SXSW for location-based/social/mobile/photo app Highlight, but the company has come a long way since March 2012. Last year to market the app there were just a couple of guys — the founders — walking around Austin in Highlight t-shirts telling people about the service. This year Highlight is doing a little bit more: renting an ice cream truck and cruising around town handing out ice pops.

The whole exercise is a way to introduce people to the new features available in Highlight 1.5, which just launched a few weeks ago. The latest version of the app adds a whole lot of new ways for users to interact with each other, by checking in to events and collecting photos that are uploaded during them.

The Highlight team has been taking pics of the people it’s handing ice pops out to and then uploading them to the service, showing how easy it is to get them after they’ve been posted. Since Highlight’s photos are all tagged based on location, people who already have the app will be able to instantly see the pictures that have been taken of them.

I did a quick interview with Highlight CEO Paul Davison to learn more about the company’s plans at SXSW and new updates that they’ve made with Highlight version 1.5. Check out the video above.

Crunchbase

• HIGHLIGHT

Company: Highlight

Website: highlig.ht

Launch Date: October 2011

Highlight is a mobile ambient awareness app. When you come within a few blocks of another Highlight user who is your Facebook friend or that you have friends or interests in common with, Highlight sends you a push notification and lets you message them. The app’s homescreen displays a reverse chronological list of all the people you’ve crossed paths with.

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