We’ve been building Oh Hey World since August, and I’ve been working on the concept since last February. As any tech entrepreneur knows, that process has been a whirlwind full of ups and downs, and a bit of a scramble at the end to push version one of the product over the finish line.

Now that we’re in a public beta, I wanted to give a further details regarding exactly what features are included in version one….

We’re offering travelers four primary features to help get the most out of your network:

1. The easiest way to share your safe arrival with those who care

Our platform updates your location on Facebook, Twitter, and sends a text or email to your parents, significant other, or close friends. Heck, for those using WordPress.org, it even updates your travel blog via our WordPress plugin. Want to check-in, but not broadcast your location to the world (or anyone)? We offer “private check-ins” which allow you use all our features — without anyone knowing where you are.

2. One view with the current location of everyone you care about

You care where close friends and family are, all the time. You care where some people are – friends, loose travel connections, and business contacts – some of the time. If they are traveling nearby to the city you live in or you are both traveling to the same city at the same time, you want to know. We bring all those people into one central location.

3. A discovery engine for those who share passions and experiences

For those who share passions such as microfinance, travel experiences such as Mount Kilimanjaro, or are involved with the same non profits (Kiva) – you’d go a bit out of your way to meet, particularly in a foreign country where you’re looking for a friendly face. For instance, you can browse all the travel bloggers on the site and see those who match that tag nearby on your post check-in screen. Any passion or experience where you’d go a little bit out of your way to have a coffee, drinks or meal – is one that should be listed on your profile.

4. Traveler lists

At a high level, we want to help you spend your in person time with people who matter. Our goal is to give you as much flexibility as possible when organizing your connections around geography or interest. Add your contacts to lists to better track where your various types of contacts currently are. If you’re like me, you have contacts spread out over various industries – and want to know where they are at different times, in different scenarios. I shouldn’t have to sort through all my contacts just to find the locations of those interested in microfinance.

Summary

In its current form, Oh Hey World is the easiest way to share your safe arrival with friends and family. That said, it’s focus on connecting with friendly faces nearby makes it most useful to the budget backpacker and long term round the world traveler segments — or anyone who travels frequently with social intent. That said, the current product is step one in our larger vision to turn the moment you arrive in a new destination from the current mess it is today to a seamless experience driven from the palm of your hand.

TRY OH HEY WORLD NOW (100 registrations)

For those already using the site – what current features are useful to you? Which ones are useless? We of course have a couple ideas of our own, but we really want to know what features you want to see next — so let us know via our feedback form. As unlikely as it is you find a bug, tell us that too.

Happy traveling!