Echoer goes global: Mobile social hands-on

A brand new social network has just been launched in app form, based entirely in the mobile world, and we've gone hands-on right here in the Twin Cities and New York to show you how it'll change your life. This app environment is called Echoer, and it's tagline "thoughts that count" is the basis for its real-time thought and "echo" engine that'll have you exploring your world in a relatively brand new way right out of the box. This app has been in Beta in Canada for a couple of months already, now it's ready for prime time the world over.

This app is currently available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in the iTunes App Store for free – we've had a look at it on the iPhone where it'll be most viable to you due to its necessity for data on the go. You can of course get all the info you need whenever you're sitting still at a wi-fi hotspot with your iPad or iPod touch as well. What you'll want to do most though once you've gotten started is to have the ability to share Echoes, thoughts of yours, comments on the places you're currently at, and more when you've had the notion pop into your head.

Echoer has an extreme amount of potential in its ultimate simplicity. The only drawback to this system of leaving thoughts, event notifications, and discoveries in any of the "Echo Chambers" around you is the possibility of overcrowding. That's solved somewhat here in the app's first version with the idea of "amping" – this being a way for crowds to make one Echo "louder" than the rest by tapping a button that'll have it visually louder (physically larger on the screen) while thoughts that are only found important by one person eventually get knocked down.

You'll see three kinds of Echoes: Blue for "Thought," Red for "Event," and Yellow for "Discovery." At the moment you'll have to actually set up an Echo through this app to make one appear – in the future we're guessing Echoer will be able to attach to other ecosystems like Twitter and Facebook for event logging. Echoer is currently a self-contained app ecosystem save for its use of Google Maps to have you seeing the world around you covered in Echoes.

You've also got "My Echoer" with lists of people you follow, your own Echoes, and the like. You'll want to build up your own Echo collection to get other people to start following you to become an authority of your area and king of Echoes! At the moment there's no "ranking" system or anything like "popular Echoers" but like the other apps integration bit, we expect Echoer to evolve into this sort of space.

The space directly around you is the place where you'll want to start exploring, but you've got the option right away to head to any other place on Earth to peek at Echoes there. Use this app to see fabulous hotspots in the city you're traveling to for the weekend – explore visually the area around the hotel you'll be sleeping at to see where you'll want to head out to for some hot nightlife action. Expand your Echoer use cases!

All of this is available right now for free in the iTunes App Store for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. If you live in a major metropolitan area you'll have more luck finding Echoes already popping up, but if you're in a less populated area, it's up to you to start the fun! Become the first Echoer in your town!

BONUS: Here's the team's first teaser released earlier this month – get pumped about expansion!