You've probably left plenty of notes for people in the past—on a
kitchen counter, slipped through the slots of a locker, or even scrawled
on a bathroom wall. But what if you could leave notes anywhere in the
world for anyone to discover, and find ones posted by others?
That's the idea behind Pinwheel, the latest startup from Flickr
cofounder Caterina Fake. Though the social site only recently emerged in
a private beta testing phase, it's gaining buzz for its simple premise:
letting people annotate a map with notes on any topic that can be
shared with others.
Fake, a fan of the GPS treasure-hunting activity known as geocaching,
says Pinwheel merges several ideas and inspirations. She first began
toying with the idea of leaving virtual notes for others to find back in
1999, but the technology wasn't there to support it. And after
cofounding Flickr in 2004, she was inspired by users of that site who
would annotate satellite maps of their hometowns with notes about
various locations. Now, as smart phones have become incredibly popular
and location-based apps like Foursquare have blossomed, Fake is
confident that the timing is right for Pinwheel, too.
The site's main page—which you need an invitation to see—shows a
stream of recently posted notes, and users can browse a map there to
check out public notes, leave notes, or search for notes or users.
Navigating the main map is like exploring a visual mash-up of a
travel and restaurant guide peppered with memories of first kisses and
apartments, event notices, historical facts, and more. There are burger
and sushi recommendations, notes about good places to watch the sun set,
and tags marking a long-gone movie theater and candy store. One user
has been using Pinwheel to log crimes—including the kidnapping and
return of Banana Sam, a squirrel monkey belonging to the San Francisco
Zoo (now safely returned)—while another is recording historic facts in
various cities.
"To me, when you are creating social software, the most exciting part
of it is when people start using your tools for things you hadn't
expected," Fake says.
At the moment, there is no Pinwheel smart-phone app to help you
leave notes on the fly, so users simply log on to the Pinwheel website
to do so (there is a mobile site, and Fake says an iPhone app is
forthcoming).