Dodgeball

Dodgeball was an early location-based social networking service for mobile phones, founded in 2000 by New York University students Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert. Its basic interaction model was unusually simple for the period: users sent their current locations to the service by text message, and Dodgeball then distributed location-aware notifications to relevant contacts and places. These could include alerts about nearby friends, friends of friends, romantic interests, and venues of potential interest. The service emerged before smartphones and app stores had made continuous location sharing commonplace. Instead of relying primarily on a graphical mobile application, Dodgeball used text messaging as the principal input and notification channel. This made the concept accessible on ordinary mobile devices while also positioning the service as an early experiment in geosocial networking, mobile discovery, and location-based dating. Its social graph was not limited to direct friends: the service’s notifications could surface connections and venues in a user’s surrounding area, giving it a distinctive combination of messaging, local discovery, and social serendipity. Dodgeball operated across a group of major United States metropolitan areas. The cities identified in reference material included Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and Denver. This city-based model reflected the practical limits of location-aware mobile services at the time and concentrated activity in places where a sufficiently large community could make proximity alerts useful. Google acquired Dodgeball in 2005. The acquisition gave Google an early connection to a service exploring mobile identity, location, and social relationships, although Dodgeball continued to operate as a distinct service for several years. In April 2007, founders Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert left Google. Crowley later characterized their experience at the company as deeply frustrating. After departing, Crowley went on to create Foursquare with Naveen Selvadurai, a later and more widely recognized location-based social networking company that developed many of the same broad themes around check-ins, local discovery, and social recommendations. Google announced in January 2009 that Dodgeball.com would be discontinued within the following months. The service was shut down in February 2009 and succeeded by Google Latitude, a Google product focused on sharing users’ locations with selected contacts. Latitude itself was eventually discontinued in 2013. Dodgeball therefore had a relatively short commercial life, but it is historically notable as an early mobile location service and as an important predecessor in the development of consumer geosocial networking.

Dodgeball was founded in 2000 by Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert, who were students at New York University. The service was conceived as a mobile social network organized around users’ physical locations. At a time when smartphones and dedicated location-sharing applications were not yet mainstream, Dodgeball used text messaging as its primary interface. Users sent their locations to the service, which responded with notifications concerning people and places nearby. Its notification system covered several types of social and local relevance. Dodgeball could alert users when friends, friends of friends, or romantic interests were nearby, and it could also identify interesting venues in the surrounding area. This gave the service characteristics of a location-aware social network, a mobile discovery tool, and an early form of mobile dating. The emphasis was not simply on publishing a location, but on using location to create unexpected social connections and recommendations. Dodgeball expanded its availability across a set of major United States metropolitan areas. The documented markets included Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and Denver. Its metropolitan-area structure reflected the need to build a concentrated local user base and venue ecosystem rather than attempt unrestricted global coverage. Google acquired Dodgeball in 2005. The transaction placed the service within Google during a period when mobile services and location-aware computing were becoming increasingly important areas of technology development. Dodgeball continued operating after the acquisition, but the founders eventually left the company. In April 2007, Crowley and Rainert departed Google; Crowley later described their experience there as extremely frustrating. Following his departure, Crowley co-founded Foursquare with Naveen Selvadurai. Foursquare pursued related location-based social networking ideas and became a more prominent successor in the broader development of check-in and local-discovery products. In January 2009, Google engineering executive Vic Gundotra announced that Dodgeball.com would be discontinued within the next few months. The service was shut down in February 2009 and replaced by Google Latitude, which offered location sharing among selected contacts through a newer Google product framework. Google Latitude was ultimately discontinued in 2013. Although Dodgeball did not remain an active service, its text-based location model made it an early example of consumer geosocial networking and an important predecessor to later mobile location products.

• 2013

  Google Latitude is discontinued

  [1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  The Google product that succeeded Dodgeball was eventually shut down.

• 2009

  Service is discontinued

  [1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Google announced the end of Dodgeball.com, which was shut down in February and succeeded by Google Latitude.

• 2007

  Founders leave Google

  [1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert left Google in April, ending their direct involvement with Dodgeball.

• 2005

  Google acquires Dodgeball

  [1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Google acquired the mobile location service and operated it within the company.

• 2000

  Dodgeball is founded

  [1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  New York University students Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert founded Dodgeball as a mobile, location-based social networking service.

An early, text-message-driven mobile social service that connected users with nearby people and places.

• Location-based social networking service · 2000

  Dodgeball

  Dodgeball was a mobile social networking service built around location messages sent by text. Users submitted their locations and received notifications about nearby friends, friends of friends, romantic interests, and potentially interesting venues. Its SMS-based design made location-aware social interaction possible on mobile phones before smartphones and app-based check-ins became widespread. The service operated in a defined group of United States metropolitan areas and was discontinued by Google in 2009.

• Location-sharing service · 2009

  Google Latitude

  Google Latitude was introduced as the successor to Dodgeball after Google ended the earlier service in 2009. It focused on sharing users’ locations with selected contacts within Google’s product ecosystem. Latitude was itself eventually discontinued in 2013.

• 2009

  Google replaces Dodgeball with Google LatitudeStrategy

  Background

  Google announced that Dodgeball.com would no longer be available after the service had operated as an early mobile location network.

  Action taken

  Google discontinued Dodgeball and shifted its location-sharing offering to Google Latitude.

  Aftermath

  Dodgeball shut down in February 2009, while Google Latitude continued until its own discontinuation in 2013.

  Source

• 2005

  Google acquires DodgeballM&A

  Background

  Dodgeball had developed a location-based social networking model for mobile phones using text messages and city-based communities.

  Action taken

  Google acquired the service and brought it into the company.

  Aftermath

  The founders later left Google, and the service was ultimately replaced by Google Latitude.

  Source

• 2009

  Google announces the discontinuation of Dodgeball[1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Google announced that Dodgeball.com would be discontinued, with the service subsequently replaced by Google Latitude.

• 2009

  Dodgeball shuts down and is succeeded by Google Latitude[1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Product generation · Other

  Dodgeball became unavailable in February 2009 as Google shifted its location-sharing efforts to Google Latitude.

• 2007

  Dodgeball founders leave Google[1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  Leadership change

  Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert departed Google in April 2007. Crowley later described the experience of operating Dodgeball within Google as frustrating.

• 2005

  Google acquires Dodgeball[1]Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Google acquired Dodgeball, bringing the early mobile location-based social networking service into its portfolio.

1. 1Dodgeball (service)en.wikipedia.org