Beluga is quickly becoming one of my favorite (and most-used) apps on my iPhone (also available on Android). My four girlfriends and I have been using it now for a solid couple of months to make happy hour plans, arrange parties, and just generally keep up in between those happy hours and parties.
It’s also proved extremely useful in group events, meet-ups, and conferences. In January, I had the privilege of flying to Seattle with over a hundred other Nintendo Brand Ambassadors, many of whom I’ve developed strong friendships with over the years.
Group Events
The Beluga app was downloaded and implemented almost immediately and served as the number one way to plan when and where to rendezvous before dinner plans, to figure out who had hair products for borrowing, and what dress we should wear to which event. For any instance when a group attends a conference, summit, or blogger meetup, it’s an amazing way to keep everyone on the same page. Bonus: it’s quicker and just much more efficient than emailing a group, especially once you’re on the move.
Friends at Home
As I mentioned before, my girlfriends (here at home in Portland) and I use Beluga all the time to keep up, make plans, and chat whenever we want. I polled the girls about their favorite parts of Beluga, and here are their responses – first hand, frequent-user raves about my new favorite app:
“I love that it enables us to have the most ridiculous conversations all together, and that it makes planning an evening out SO much easier.”
Megan, noting the GPS (optional location-mapping) features, also added, “I also love that I can totally stalk all of you and know where you are every time you send me a message on it.”
It should be noted that this is not a default setting, and that you can turn “off” the option to show your location. But when you’re meeting somewhere new? This is an amazingly helpful feature!
Cortney’s list of favorites includes the group chatting, and adds how easy it is to keep up with the same conversation. “You don’t have to worry about hitting ‘reply all’ verses just reply.”
She adds, “I love the icon that pops up when there’s a new message (note: Cortney’s using Beluga for Android), and that it allows you to access multiple chat groups at once whenever you’d like.”
She raises a great point here – you can have more than one chat group! Create groups for your friends the same way they exist in person (girlfriends, family, etc.), and have simultaneous conversations across different groups of friends.
The Possibilities are Endless
I use this app for keeping up with my girlfriends, and for keeping organized with friends when we meet up across the country for various conferences and summits and get-togethers. However, I see so many other possible uses for a group-texting app like this one: keeping up with family, group projects at school or work, etc.
Do you Beluga? What kind of groups do you have set up?
