Drinking the Burbn: a new location game

It's a bold move to build a social location app today, but Kevin Systorm doesn't care about that.

I was introduced to Burbn by a friend who claimed, "it's like a Foursquare game". I had to give it a try. There isn't much on the site there now except an invite form, a help page, and a jobs email address. But if you want an invite, I can hook you up.

My first impression to Burbn was a Facebook Connect button, which is a brilliant idea. Connect me with my current social graph before I even start using your service. It found friends that I was on Facebook with and added them.

Next, Burbn didn't leave me up the creek without a paddle: it invited me to move ("check in") somewhere, make a plan ("future check in"), and upload a photo.

The mobile site is completely HTML 5, so anyone with a good mobile browser can interact with it.

But the thing that really excited me was the point value at the top right of the screen.

The help page says that you will be able to trade these points in for something good soon, which makes me want to keep logging in and posting photos (you get more points).

One feature that Foursquare or Gowalla do not have is the ability to check in somewhere in the future. Plancast is all about this idea, but Burbn just makes it dead simple. You say you're gonna be somewhere at a certain time, and Burbn puts you there, and you can even feed Foursquare at the same time.

Another interesting tidbit to note, my colleague over at CNET Caroline McCarthy noticed that they assign you a username automatically:

At least they are taking feedback seriously.

I am excited to see these guys evolve, and you better believe I'll be watching them closely. Systrom is the only engineer on the project now, but he's bringing someone else on soon.

If you want to try it out, send me an email.