Don’t have a fancy phone? Did you know you can use Whrrl with text messages to share your location, post notes, search for places, invite friends, and discover things to do while you’re on the go? In this post I’ve included a list of the 5 most used commands, but first for those of you like me (read: with a short attention span), David and his brother Jason will show how Whrrl SMS helps to connect you with your friends in the real world, in real time.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/1749663[/vimeo]

Getting Started

To create a Whrrl account send a text (it can say anything) to 94775. This five digit number is called a shortcode, and ours spells WHRRL.  If you want to stop receiving messages from Whrrl just send STOP (to 94775).

Top 5 SMS Commands

Instead of explaining all 24 commands, I’m going to quickly describe the 5 most useful and crucial things you can do with Whrrl SMS on your phone.  Whrrl SMS is conversational, so each message you receive will include some suggested responses at the bottom.  You can send MENU to get a list of commands at any time.

Share Your Location

Send a message like @ purple cafe in Seattle or AT purple cafe in Seattle.

If there is more than one possible match, you’ll get a list of search results.  Respond with the number of the result that is correct (a message like 2).  People you have whitelisted as being able to see your location will be notified of where you are, based on their notification settings.

Search For Places

Send a command like SEARCH open now near 1st ave and pine st or SEARCH thai in Seattle to get a list of places that match your criteria.  I’ve also had a lot of success with SEARCH free wifi in San Francisco (I gave it a more specific location in Nob Hill).

The more specific the location you give, the more relevant (and walkable) the results will be.

Shout (send a message to all your friends)

Send a message like SHOUT hey who’s up for going out tonight? or SHOUT is anyone in the office who can let me in? (I do the second one often) and your message will be broadcast to all your friends on Whrrl.

Invite a Friend

Send a message like INVITE 4256987497 (that’s my real phone number - friend me!) to invite someone to become friends with you on Whrrl.  If they are not already a Whrrl user they will be invited to join.

Read Your Feed

Send FEED to see all the most recent activity in your feed.

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So that’s really it, there are more commands and some shortcuts but I’ll save those for another post. There’s also info in our FAQ, if you just can’t wait for that post.  If you’ve got questions, we’re always ready to answer them at feedback@whrrl.com or on Get Satisfaction.

Hey Whrrlers! I’m an intern from the University of Washington spending this summer working with Pelago’s web team. Like many of you, I’ve wanted to connect my Whrrl and Twitter accounts for a while. Today I’m happy to announce this wish has come true.

Now you can share where you’re going and what you’re doing with your followers on Twitter. If you choose, your status and/or location updates on Whrrl can be published to your Twitter account in real time, whether you update Whrrl via the web, SMS, or on your mobile phone.

How to Link Your Twitter and Whrrl Accounts

To get started, log in at www.whrrl.com, go to the twitter tab of your Whrrl settings, and link your account. It’s that simple.

Want to stay up-to-date with Whrrl?
You can subscribe to this blog and follow @Whrrl on Twitter.

Whrrl contains more than 6.5 million points of interest in the US, but how many of these businesses are going to close in the next year? In addition to being able to drag-and-drop places on the map, now Whrrl users can mark places as having closed permanently without having to contact us through our feedback box.

I captured Frank (the software engineer who brought this feature to life) in his natural habitat, and put together a quick demo of how marking places closed in Whrrl works. Enjoy!

Video: Meet Frank & Mark Places Closed in Whrrl

Check out the Whrrl YouTube Channel for more videos!

How to Mark Places Closed

On the detail page for a place, there is a button at the bottom of the left hand column. When you mark a place closed the button will change to orange, and the business name will display [Closed] next to it. If you made a mistake, you can click the orange button and mark the place open again:

The newest release of Whrrl leverages what people are saying and where they’re going, making it even easier to discover interesting places nearby.

Web Browser

When you view the detail page for a place you will see at a glance who has been there, what they thought, and who wants to go in the future.

Discover places to go to dinner before the theater, or maybe after work for happy hour. You can see the places people most frequently visited prior to, and following, the place you’re looking at in Whrrl.

What if the place you wanted to go happens to be closed? Whrrl will suggest other similar places nearby.

Recommendations in the iPhone App

In the List view, you will see places with a star if they are recommended for you, as well as a brief explanation of why they were chosen.

From Blake Scholl, Director of Product Development-

As you know, we’re continuously tweaking and improving Whrrl. I’m especially excited about our latest update - the most significant in Whrrld history. We’ve got a totally new mobile download that works on more phones and is faster and easier than ever… but that’s a topic for another post. Today, I want to share some of what’s new on whrrl.com including a revolutionary new way to explore the real world with the help of your friends.

Whrrl is all about getting more out of your real-world life, discovering new places to go and things to do by seeing what your friends are up to. We’ve made it even easier to uncover and share awesomeness in your city without ever typing a keyword. I’d like to show you how this works.

When you’re zoomed out, Whrrl colors your map according to your friends’ opinions so it’s easy to tell where the good stuff is at a glance.

With a flick of the scrollwheel, you zoom in and see more: are the places people you know love and are the places they’ve been. It’s fun and easy to cruise around the map and bump into cool stuff. Like eating at places with great water views? Cruise along the coastline and checkout the places your friends love. Of course, the more you and your friends use Whrrl, the better this works.

Even though I’ve lived in Seattle for almost a decade, I’m shocked by how many gems I can uncover just by browsing the map. Give it a try - when you find something cool, click “I want to go” to share your discovery and remember it for later. Come across something you already know? Mark it as “been there” and rate it. You’ll light up your friends’ maps (and their lives!) with your discovery.

To get back to your discoveries, go to “What’s on my map” and pick “I want to go” from “show only.” It works like magic: other places vanish leaving only the places you want to go on your map and list.

By the way, many of you have asked for even bigger maps. Now you can hide the left side of Whrrl by clicking the “arrow” control between the content page and the map.

Whrrl puts literally millions of places on your map. You can explore every single one just by hovering over whatever looks interesting. Want something more specific? “What’s on my map” gives you complete control over which places and events appear on your map. You can filter by dozens of factual attributes (everything from ‘open now’ to ’serves beer’), your friends’ activity (for instance, visited by a particular friend), and even by your own history (where you’ve visited and where you want to). Just open up “show only” and pick the filters you want. Your map and list update right away, and you can add/remove filters in any order you want. Family-friendly Mexican places rated highly by your friend Bob? Whrrl can find them. Sushi restaurants with a happy hour right now? As I write this, there are 9 in Seattle-including 2 recommended by my friends.

Without Whrrl, your friends’ collective knowledge is locked up in their minds. With Whrrl, you can tap into your friends’ experiences anytime, wherever you are. Combining your friends’ wisdom with Whrrl’s detailed database of places and events makes it easy to discover new favorites and be smarter when you go out.

We love all the new experiences we’ve been able to have, thanks to Whrrl. We’d love to hear what you think. Write us at feedback@whrrl.com. Please share your stories about your discoveries with Whrrl - we collect these, and from time to time we’ll post our favorites here.