While the free GetGlue iPhone app would have been my very favorite discovery as a 17-year-old, I like it now as well. The first thing you do here is check in; which, in Facebook parlance, means announce what you’re currently doing.
With check-ins, you have options. You are either watching a show or a movie, listening to music, reading a book, playing a video game, chatting about a celebrity, thinking about a topic, or drinking wine. Interesting choices. I’m not sure what you would do if you were, say, hiking up a mountain or making dinner; then again, maybe those are the kind of activities that don’t lend themselves to simultaneously connecting to social networks.
What’s cool about checking in to an interest or activity you’re currently pursuing is that you can see other people who are doing the same thing. I “checked in” to a (slightly embarrassing) movie I was watching called Timer and received two points, which earned me an iPhoner sticker. Plus, and this is where it gets good, I got to see other people who had also checked in to the film and then view their favorite music, movies, books, etc.
Other ways to find people with whom you have common interests is by clicking on the app’s stream. There, you’ll find a constant update of what GetGlue members are doing at all times. You can find a new favorite band this way, or maybe your new favorite friend.
Another fun way to pass the time with this app is to “Rate & Pick.” Choose from an inventory of recording artists, movie stars, topics, and more; then within each, from essential lists of what’s hot right now, favorites, and picks based on your taste. Not to mention genre categories of whatever thing you’re rating in the first place (comedy and documentary for movies; cookbooks and graphic novels for books). GetGlue is kind of like Facebook (in fact, you can connect to FB through here), but with more strangers and defined categories to fit everything into.
