First developed as part of a project at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), Socialight lets both individuals and publishers post location-aware content that can be "pulled" via search or "pushed" as part of a spam-proof, opt-in channel exactly when and where it's most relevant. For example:

* Curious about the real estate around New York's or San Francisco's Union
Square? Subscribe to a real estate channel and view rich media listings
using your mobile phone -- pushed to, or pulled by you while you're out
walking in the area.
* Want the inside scoop on the coolest, hard-to-find shops in London? Use
your mobile phone to see what your fashion-forward friends have tagged
in a particular shopping district.
* Looking for restaurant reviews from friends whose opinions you trust?
Use your cell phone to access their creative take on the food and
service ... before you're led to your table.
* Take a walking tour of virtually tagged landmarks around Boston,
enriched by trusted tidbits of information ... off the official tour
map.
* Or, create your own channel based on your personal preferences and
insights and share it with your friends.

"So much great local information is locked up inside people's heads or inaccessible at the time or place it's most relevant," said Dan Melinger, CEO of Socialight. "With this upgrade, we're aiming to unlock more of this collective knowledge and make it accessible to a broader base of users around the globe. We're providing an additional layer of context and information for the real world while at the same time enabling people to create their own content from a mobile platform."

Socialight aims to enhance, not replace other online social networks. For example, users can import Flickr photo GeoRSS feeds and share their images at the exact places they took them. Users of MySpace and Blogger can embed a Socialight "widget" to liven up their pages with maps of recent Sticky Notes.

"Web-based social networks are great, but they tie you to a computer," said Socialight CTO Michael Sharon. "We put that community in your pocket and make it more useful."

Socialight also allows content providers - branded and otherwise - to create opt-in channels. By publishing content to Socialight's servers using a simple new interface, partners can deliver media to people when and where it's likely to be relevant -- on their mobile handset. Content providers including WCities and Movie Locations Guide are already programming fun, entertaining and informative Socialight channels, with many more to come in the near future.

Additional functionality in this launch includes a mobile web (WAP) site and a text messaging interface that lets anyone with a cell phone use Socialight, including interactive features like rating, commenting, favoriting, private messaging and blog-style follow-up posting.