ABD3, which describes its line of work as "enablers of real life social networking for today's mobile consumer," has announced the availability of the YellowPin social lifestyle tool. 

Using a text message, the service lets users bring their online, social network friends into their -- ostensibly -- real lives by sharing their activities and locations in real time. "As well," company officials say, "YellowPin gives users a guide to the activities their friends are engaging in around them, providing different options for social interaction." 

You must admit, it's a worthy goal: Transforming online socializing into in-person interactions for people who want to expand and connect their online network to real life activities. Is this reporter the only one who sees the subtle irony of that being accomplished via an online network tool?

Launching first on Facebook (News - Alert), socializers can update their selected friends or groups via the application online to show where they are and what they are doing or, when using a mobile phone, sending a text message to 555888 with their location. The YellowPin service uses the same privacy settings as the popular social network, company officials say, "ensuring all information and updates are controlled by subscribers." YellowPin officials say they will never publicize any personal information, and will not use GPS or satellite technology to track your movements. Promise.

After adding the application, YellowPin aggregates your network of contacts on Facebook, which then enables you to pull information about the happenings around you and their whereabouts. Whether planning a night out with friends or networking for business, people can transform online social lives into real time interactions.

The service is available to any phone with SMS capabilities, be it a smartphone or standard, candy bar phone.

ABD3 officials say the service "pinpoints each person exactly where they are," it's not "a 100-yard guesstimate," and communicates the activity a person is engaging in, "rather than just longitude and latitude coordinates." And here's my favorite marketing point: It "aggregates friends' activity to give a user a clearer view of their social landscape."

Sayles Braga, CEO of ABD3, said with mobile slated to be the largest growth area for social networks, "we believe that people should be free to interact with their friends and control their own information in that environment -- not have a machine dictate it to them." With a free first month, YellowPin will cost 99 cents per month after that, billed directly through existing mobile accounts.