Review Skateropolis: Social Networking App for Skaters

[rating: 4/5]

Skateropolis Brings Social Networking to the skate park.

Skateropolis is a skatepark finder & multi-media hub connecting the entire skate culture together.

Skatepark Finder. Over 2,400 U.S. Skateparks.

POST YOUTUBE VIDEOS INTO YOUR GROUPS AND FAVORITE SKATEPARKS DIRECTLY FROM YOUR iPHONE/iPOD TOUCH

Stay connected with your favorite pro skateboard teams and your local skate crew by joining groups. Within groups you can watch & post photos, videos and comments to the wall.

“Skitch” the status of your favorite buddies (exactly like following in Twitter) and update your status for all of your favorite followers to see. Planning a sesh couldn’t be simpler.

Get your avatar and name splashed on your favorite skatepark page as “top contributor” by posting the most photos and videos to that park.

Sketeropolis is said to bring social networking to the skateboarding scene and it’s off to a great start with good content, simple navigation and integrated website. Having said all that Skateropolis is geared more towards actual boarders rather than those that like to play it on a gaming console.

One of the first things you’ll want to do when launching the app is to create a profile so that you can follow friends, Twitter style, join groups, Facebook style, and synchronize all of it with the website at www.skateropolis.com. This is simple to do with only a username, password and email address initially required to get you started.

Once that’s been done you can start viewing some of the great content. Video’s and pictures are the bread and butter of any social networking content and this is provided in both quantity and quality in Skateropolis. Pictures can be viewed and uploaded easily but it’s the videos which play quickly and in high quality over Wi-Fi that really bring the app to life. Not only can you watch skater videos but also upload them directly from the iPhone too which is a great feature for catching all the action from the local skate park.

And if you don’t know where your local skate park is then this app is also for you as the ‘Near Me’ feature will allow you to utilize the iPhone’s GPS functionality to find your nearest half-pipe, bowl or snakeflow park. In addition to using your GPS to locate parks you can also use the Search facility to search by city, state or zip which will be great if you’re planning a trip or vacation out of town.

Once you’ve found a park you can use the open its location via the inbuilt Google Maps, view detailed info about the park facilities, user videos, pictures and comments as well as an overall rating. You can also add your favorite parks to your profile for easy access.

The part of Skateropolis that will make or break the app though is its ability to keep boarders connected and in touch which is done via the Connect tab. Here you can join groups of fellow skaters and follow other boarders Twitter style by ‘Skitching’ you latest updates.

And this is where the app has its work cut out. Skaterpolosis is only a matter of days old and so the number of groups and users is very limited. Without like minded people to share your content with the urge to participate is going to be limited. That being said it’s early days and with Twitter integration due to be included in a future update Skateropolis has the potential of being the only place to be to share your online boarding life.

Price $ 2.99