Shout'em adds location to its white label mobile social networks

Shout’em today adds a major new feature to its service which could well super-charge it into a whole different place: location. The white label service lets you build a Twitter-like social network, but it now leverages Foursquare’s API and Twitter’s GeoAPI.

The mobile-optimised social networks can be private, location-based and used by any niche group. So far Shout’em has apps for java phones, the iPhone, android. They are now adding a Blackberry app to that roster. All will be leveraging the location feature. In addition Shout’em is throwing in some augmented reality magic into its iPhone app. The Android app is still in progress.

According to the startup, users can control control access, look and feel, without requiring any programming or development skill and the networks can be created in minutes. Prior to this, Shoutem had a 11,000 whitelabel networks on its books, including WE Harlem, NFL Shouts and Ranch & Rodeo.

CEO Victor Marohnic told me the move was prompted by the fact that people aren’t able to create their own social mobile communities with location at the core.

Shout’em is increasingly out-iterating much larger but older and slower moving white label social networks like Ning.

Backed by seed investment from the Croatian government, Zagreb-based, 25-strong Shout’em is part of the Five Minutes Group, which is an agency which builds social networking and Web 2.0 services for the likes of Vodafone and Microsoft.