Mobile Social Network ‘Groovr’ at Your Service

Django-powered and all sorts of Web 2.0, the mobile social network Groovr is very new (launched Dec 29th, 2006) and, according to Mashable!, “impressive”. I won’t go so far as to give it the “better” or “best” treatment in the face of competition from the likes of popular items such as JuiceCaster, Wadja, Dodgeball, and Socialight (Mashable! has a larger list of MSNs if you’re looking to compare Groovr to a particular favorite of yours not mentioned here), but if you’re new to the trade or giving each service a try in order to find the perfect fit, a moment spent in Groovr’s world could be a great way to improve or expand communication with friends - or find new ones - during your leisure hours.

There’s always a downside to everything. Whether it’s keyboard-induced carpal tunnel, a migrane courtesy of a 48-hour Dungeons & Dragons binge fueled with breakfast bars and Red Bull (I’m fortunate to have never undergone such a feat), or catching breeze through a subway grate on a city street through one’s skirt (please, oh please let there be at least one female reader at Profy) with nary a warning of the ominous, impending gust, you’ll never have it all exactly the way you’d like.

That goes for services like Groovr too. You’ve got your free-to-stalk openness, aided by many genuine images, and, well, sometimes you don’t want even your closest buds to follow your steps. But then if you don’t lay down those intermittent tracks, friends get annoyed you’re not playing the game, and then the pestering sets in and blah, blah, blah. No, these aren’t widespread issues, but stuff happens, and, you know, just be careful out there, alrighty?

Regardless of the negatives, there are some really great positives to Groovr (and those with which it spars).

‘Easy to use’ has become a phrase that, though very much common in my posts, I hardly regret using. In fact, my profuse application of its loveliness only shows how fantastic the world of Web 2.0 has been turning out over the last year or so. Sure, there are several bad apples, and I will call them out as I see them. But there’s much to fancy about Groovr, and some of those quality bits are the well-engineered gears behind the garnish, so I use it with pride once again. And the garnish!

We’ve all seen disastrous finishes placed on good ideas. Myspace, for instance. What happened? 50+ million kids, adults and in-betweeners happened. What’s worse is that many of those people are content with the disaster. Da Vinci would cry, he would. Do you think Da Vinci would’ve had an account there? Anyway… It’s good to see people programming well for “the social”, but it’s also good to see people continue to take their fine Photoshop-based brushes to cover that quality code.

So, Groovr looks good, feels good, and it works. But will it last? I must say I am no trendspotter, but I believe that if something truly is as great they (the creators and press) say, the people will find it. The page of ‘Newest Groovrz’ doesn’t require a terrible amount of scrolling as of yet, but as the network is in its infancy, I’d say it’s on a steady climb. The site has ranked 1564 places (the most popular of which are LA, California-bound) since the 29th of last month. Not too shabby. Will it meet Dodgeball in numbers? Go elsewhere for guidance on that one.

What I do know is that if Mashable! says something’s cool, you general should give it a whirl, if only to be one of the first to join in on the MSN’s (Mobile Social Network) moblogging fun. Pete Cashmore said it’s “strangely compelling… [and] extremely well-designed.” What more do you need to?

By the way, is it just me, or does Groovr carry some visual traits eerily similar to last version of Digg to be replaced? Feel free to share your words.