Media

iPhone users flook your favorite SEAtrails and more

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Apologies to those who aren’t iPhone users, this blog post introduces an awesome new iPhone application for user generated flook cards. Above is my first flook card. In flooks’ own words:

Flook is a location browser – the world’s first Serendipitous Discovery Engine. Flook is a brand new way to discover and share the world around you. Flook’s innovative UI lets you simply swipe through a stream of nearby flook cards. Cards have a full-screen photo and some text and they’re also geo-located – placed at a specific location for you to find when you’re nearby. Over time, flook learns which cards people like most, and then shows them to you first.

For the SEAtrails region and outdoor recreation and tourism – flook is a tool that lets us share things that catch your eye/attention. flook is very new. Even if it doesn’t sweep the country, it is free and fun to upload postings, so there is no downside. If a few people or a dozen are inspired to visit, yahoo! If more locals start posting, it will also be handy for sharing information such as when/where the lake ice is good for skating (my recent posts), events, …

flook can promote SEAtrails and the region in several ways. 1) Folks from around the world can easily browse flook cards online and on iPhones so we can generate interest in our region with pictures of cool places and activities. 1a) Right now flook is very new so there aren’t that many users, so cards are getting more play than they will as the network grows. 2) When someone is planning a trip to Alaska they can seek out cards in the area of interest to help with planning. 3) When here, you can ask to see flook cards near you for ideas of where to go and what to do.

The folks at flook are working to improve the application constantly and in response to my request for a category for birders (a community that is all about locations of rare birds) I was told that they plan to make the flook cards searchable by key words. When this happens I’ll be back to edit appropriate cards by hiking, kayaking, trails, etc.

If you are reading on your computer, visit http://flook.it/about/ and then pop over to community to browse the latest flook cards from around the world (flook originates in Europe). For iPhone users, the flook application is available to download through the app store and its free! Sign up early and get your favorite user names. I scored Alaska.

Labels: marketing