October 6th, 2009
Today we’re excited to announce the shiny new Brightkite. First off we want to apologize for downtime associated with this update, there were some major changes under the hood that required us to be offline, this won’t happen with subsequent releases. Thank you for your patience.
So, it’s been months in the making, we’ve had countless bleary-eyed nights, but Brightkite 2.0 is now here. Brightkite’s design and technology have been re-built and re-envisioned, practically from the ground up. We have a vision for the future, and 2.0 is the beginning and foundation to get us there. The next chapter in Brightkite will be an exciting one and we need your help. Give us your suggestions, tell us your pain points (we do listen), and together we will continue to build awesome things.
2.0
In addition to the unseen upgrades under the hood, 2.0 includes many new features that you can see. Here’s some of what’s new:
Pick Your Friends, Gain Your Fans
Since one of our goals is to enable face-time over screen-time, we’ve redesigned Brightkite friendships to resemble those in the real-world. In 2.0 people can “subscribe” to your public posts by becoming a fan, but only you decide who’s a friend. Just like the real world, friends may see posts that fans can’t and can have privileges that fans don’t. This new asymmetrical model takes the pressure off of having to accept friend requests from people who are not really friends.
launch-post_r1_c1
Privacy Settings for the Real World
We’ve redesigned the sharing options for simple yet powerful privacy. With one click you can share with friends and/or everyone. Additionally, we’ve added the ability to share with Twitter & Facebook on an individual post basis, and the capability to post with no location at all.
launch-post_r3_c1
Streams to Order
We’ve redesigned streams for the ultimate exploring experience. We’ve added filters and search boxes that allow customization of the people, locations, and type of posts you want to see, all on the fly. Take for example: Martinis in San Francisco, Food in Japan or Unicorns Everywhere.launch-post_r5_c1
Stats
Stats are the beginning of wave of neat features we have planned around places and profiles. At a glance you can see number of views on your posts, popularity of a given post, visitors to a place, etc…
launch-post_r7_c1
PlaceSnapping™ Enhancements
PlaceSnapping™, a favorite feature you’re all familiar with from v1, is now much more place-snappier. We’ve enhanced the underlying technology and are actively tweaking it to match the places you go. The more you use it the better it gets, reducing the time it takes to make a post, allowing more fun with your friends rather than your handset.
2.0 iPhone App, awaiting approval from Apple
The app has been submitted and is waiting approval. It’s in Apple’s hands now but in the meantime we’ve posted some screenshots. The app should appear within a week or two but anything changes, we will let you know.
apple
Below is a list of other notable features and improvements in 2.0. Better yet, discover them for yourself.
Notable 2.0 improvements:
- Live stream updates
- Updated Public API
- Ability to rate posts (thumbs up/thumbs down)
- Favorite Places (used to be Placemarks)
- New user and place statistics
- Updated mobile site: m.brightkite.com
- Persistent location bar
- Improved posting flow
- New UI design
- Improved scalability
- Various SMS improvements
- AJAX improvements
- Bunches and bunches o’ other fixes
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Posted by Brady Becker at 7:06 AM in Product Comments (55)
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0 tra's avatar
tra · 366 weeks ago
Excellent update!
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+2 jomichele's avatar
jomichele · 366 weeks ago
Many of us are angry/disappointed/frustrated with the fact that all our previously private posts are now public. The minor bugs are one thing, but the privacy issue is absolutely NOT a minor bug. And for many people, the damage has already been done.
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
+2 robyn's avatar
robyn · 366 weeks ago
I agree with jomichele on that one. That ABSOLUTELY should have been warned about prior. Lost a friend over this already this morning. NOT a minor bug at all.
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+1 microe's avatar
microe · 366 weeks ago
In agreement here. Privacy is a big issue. I was surprised to log in this morning and find this out.
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0 tomVlongname's avatar
tomVlongname · 366 weeks ago
Would like to see the old privacy rules back!!! and a bigger posting window, so you can poof your post better.
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+2 Lesley 's avatar - Go to profile
Lesley 39p · 366 weeks ago
Hi guys,
We sincerely apologize about the privacy glitch, we are working hard to fix that right now.
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 robyn's avatar
robyn · 366 weeks ago
Thanks for the acknowledgement on the privacy issue, please send out some sort of announcement when it is fixed. Also PLEASE let the comment field expand as we type! We get 1000 characters and cannot see what we wrote till it's posted, then cant correct anything right now
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0 Beil's avatar
Beil · 366 weeks ago
I'm with Jomichele & Robyn regarding the privacy glitch. This is NOT a minor problem. I'm guessing BK is going to re-privatize old private posts, but I'd like to hear BK's confirmation of that.
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0 truckerllew's avatar
truckerllew · 366 weeks ago
mobile bkite.com will not open for me at all. keep getting 404. earlier I couldn't log in at all.. got "something is technically wrong" message. will there be problems with the mobile version of brightkite for a while?
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0 CloseToGivingUp's avatar
CloseToGivingUp · 366 weeks ago
Bleedin hell is it down again?
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 tomconline's avatar
tomconline · 366 weeks ago
DOAH!!!!!
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+2 Dave Thomas's avatar
Dave Thomas · 366 weeks ago
maybe a little beta testing would have helped to iron out these bugs...
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1 reply · active 366 weeks ago
0 's avatar - Go to profile
Jax · 366 weeks ago
privacy issues? This is the first I've heard of it. Are you telling me that all my previously private posts are now public?
In which case I'm really glad it's offline, and I think I'll be erasing my membership when it comes back up. That's a horrendous thing to do.
Am also v concerned about the changes to the friend model - it appears to me that it's no longer possible to be private if ppl can follow you without consent, can you confirm or deny this?
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 cody's avatar
cody · 366 weeks ago
i'm switching back to Loopt. This is ridiculous.
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+1 's avatar - Go to profile
Chuck Franks · 366 weeks ago
Growing pains are duh painful. I for one love @Brightkite and plan to remain loyal even through their problems. Social media is about dialogue with your customers. People spoke and they listened. I'll be looking to see if they put our concerns in front of their own. That is how they will exceed my expectations.
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 Gregz's avatar
Gregz · 366 weeks ago
Oooo my .... Heads spinning
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 Dave's avatar
Dave · 366 weeks ago
No downtime with future releases? There's downtime right now!
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+1 ScootnDenver's avatar - Go to profile
ScootnDenver 8p · 366 weeks ago
From: sprouticus
Subject: SMS messages and notification settings
Sorry about that guys. There are still a few bugs with SMS, so we have disabled it for now. It may not be back when the site comes back online, but we're working hard to fix it as soon as we can.
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Let's hope they get it all back up and runnign soon !!
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andrewyb · 366 weeks ago
How about an application for the Palm Pre?
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2 replies · active 366 weeks ago
0 's avatar - Go to profile
Bischita · 366 weeks ago
where is brightkite?
I need you back! :'''(((
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0 G4daddy's avatar
G4daddy · 366 weeks ago
Sounds like a privacy model similar to Plurk, but that UI can be dizzying!
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+1 xstex's avatar - Go to profile
xstex 3p · 366 weeks ago
This looks great, can't wait till you have the site back up.
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0 Jason's avatar
Jason · 366 weeks ago
This downtime makes me wonder if Apple will reject the iPhone App submission, given that like the current "v1" app, it most certainly is not working right now, undoubtedly.
This would be sad.
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0 renee 's avatar
renee · 366 weeks ago
true funny privacy
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bamboolabcode · 355 weeks ago
Thank you for this information.