Don't Count Brightkite Out Just Yet

Amidst all this talk of location-based check-ins, it seems the frontrunner from just over a year ago has been swept under the rug. Brightkite, with over 2 million users, seems to have stagnated recently, allowing Foursquare and Gowalla to get most of the limelight, despite a smaller user base.

Well, it seems Brightkite has been so quiet because they've been working on some new things. Awesome new things. The first of which is Group Text. This is a smart move for Brightkite. Texting rates are still gouging wireless customers, so texting services like TextPlus and now Brightkite's Group Text do well to offer mass texting absolutely free. Group Text has replaced messages on Brightkite's site and now has an iPhone app [iTunes link] out, independent from the Brightkite iPhone app.

Brightkite has also managed to nab the domain http://check.in. This is where it gets good. With all of us suffering from severe check-in fatigue, I've been praying for one service to let me check in to everything at once. Brightkite is planning to fill that void for me. Jay Donovan from CrunchGear managed to get a demo from the Brightkite team at SXSWi, and I'm super psyched to see it come to fruition.