Swirl now offers 100,000 US 'placemarks'

Checked out Swirl Connect at all? It’s a location-based mobile friend finder service. It enables users to stay connected with friends, experience what their friends experience as it happens, meet new folk on the go and find out about places of interest nearby.

Speaking of places of interest — that’s what Swirl’s been working on. They’ve now got 100,000 ‘placemarks’ (Placemarks are places of interest than can have shared photos and notes posted to them) which means that almost any US user is going to, I imagine, find a placemark that they’re familiar with. Smart move.

Another smart move? Well, the Swirl team have made sure that almost every single Motorola handset is supported — along with Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson (although no N95 as yet, it seems). Good policy, given the huge, huge handset population in the States.

Here are just some features:

* View connection status for your buddies, and find out if they’re online or mobile
* Find your friends’ locations or destinations on a map
* View the photos your friends have taken and the places they’ve visited
* Get real-time alerts of your friends’ activity
* Instant message friends on their PCs or mobile phones
* Group chat with your friend list
* Use Quick Talk to phone friends (like Push to Talk)
* Share photos, places, and notes with other Swirl members

Just downloaded it…