Google Latitude

Google Latitude, the company’s new geo-location tool, allows you to see the geographical location of your friends and provides you with a way to contact them via SMS, instant message, or a phone call.Using mobile devices’ GPS features and Google Maps, Google Latitude allows folks to share their location and status. However, as with similar products (such as whereyougonnabe), it really relies on the network effect for its usefulness.

The big question for those following social media is whether Latitude might be Google's secret "Twitter killer." After all, if your cell phone can tell your social network where you are, is there really a need for a microblogging platform that asks, "What are you doing?" The Map Room (02/09) Mashable (02/04) eWeek.com (02/05)