Mobilize Your Social Network with Dodgeball

No, we're not talking about the game you played in grade school or the Ben Stiller movie. Dodgeball.com is a social networking system that allows members to broadcast their whereabouts via SMS text messaging to friends in their network. Members can use Dodgeball to locate friends within a 10-block radius, broadcast messages to an entire group, or be automatically notified when certain people are nearby. Dodgeball has been available in beta mode since 2000, and launched in wide service in April 2004. Currently, the service is available in 22 US cities.

It's not hard to imagine the applications that a service like this would have for business, politics, education and emergency management. It also begs the question of privacy; after all, do you really want you boss being able to track you all over town? But if enough people find a service such as Dodgeball useful and manageable, it could prove to be a key component of future mobile communication.

Source: Smart Mobs