How to Use Dopplr

• Also try: Dopplr | Mahalo Daily's Spotlight on Dopplr

Guide Note: Dopplr is a web-based application designed to let people who travel frequently know when their associates will be traveling to the same area they're traveling to or live in. If you're a frequent traveler, it might help you to know How to Use Dopplr.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Step 1: Get an Account
• Step 2: Customize Your Profile
• Step 3: Connect With Friends
• Step 4: Add Your Trips
• Step 5: Find Out Who Will Be At Your Destination
• Step 6: Stay Connected Through Dopplr Mobile
• Resources for Using Dopplr

Introduction

• If you're taking a business trip to Tallahassee, Taiwan or Timbuktu and want to know if anyone you know will be there, you could send out a mass email, or you could just check Dopplr. This website has been designed with one thing in mind: to allow people who travel frequently to find out if any of their friends or colleagues are traveling to the same area, and if so, allow them to connect.
• Dopplr has quickly become quite popular with a number of business travelers. If you're tired of lonely nights of business travel spent in a bland hotel room, sign up and connect!

Step 1: Get an Account

• If you had heard of Dopplr before, but couldn't manage to get an invitation during its closed beta period, you'll be happy to know that it has gone public and is accepting public sign-ups. No more sleuthing for invitations to join the network!

Step 2: Customize Your Profile

Location finder in Dopplr

• Once you've created your account, set up your profile to show some information about you.

1. Click on the "Your Account" link at the top of the page.
2. Click on "Update Your Account Details" to change your name, email address and password.
3. Click on "Change your icon" to upload a picture of yourself that will be shown on your page and on your friends' pages.
   • Dopplr recommends using a 128 X 128 pixel image.
4. Click on "Change your home city" to define your home city.
   • Type in your city name in the search box above the words "Change your home city".
   • The tool may not have your home city, but the site is in constant development. So if your home city is missing, pick one nearby and check back later to see if they add it.

Step 3: Connect With Friends

If You Just Joined Dopplr

Use your cursor to find out who those icons belong to

• If you don't have any contacts on Dopplr, it's a little like being in a big, empty nightclub. If you want to make use of the site, you'll need to find your friends.

1. Log in to Dopplr.
2. To the right of your picture (if you have customized your profile), you will see a line of text that says "Recently joined Dopplr? Have a look at this list of travelers that you might already know." Click on the link to see other users you may know.
3. To share trips with the users you see, click on "Share trips". They will now be able to see your trips. You won't be able to see theirs until they share their trips with you.
4. Now click on "Your Trips" at the top of the page.
5. At the bottom of the page, you should see a row (or several rows) of icons. These are the people whose trips you can see. Hover your cursor over each icon to see the name of the person connected to it.
6. If you know the person, click on their icon.
7. To the right of their photo, you'll see a link that says "Share your trips with...?" Click on that link to share your trips with them.

For Experienced Dopplr Users

• After your initial search for friends on Dopplr, you may have found everyone you know. But you'll probably want to manage your connections at some point. Plus you can see if anyone else you know has joined!

1. Log in to Dopplr, if you aren't already.
2. Click on "Manage connections" in the upper right corner.
3. On this page you can monitor whose trips you can see and who can see your trips.
   • For example, if you just broke up with your boyfriend, and don't want him to see your trips anymore, go to this page and click on the "Who can see your trips tab." Then click on the "Stop sharing" option next to his profile.
4. You can check for new Dopplr users you might know by clicking on the "New travelers on Dopplr" tab. Or click on the "Others you might know" tab to check if there are people on Dopplr who aren't new, but who you may know.
5. Click on a traveler's name to get his profile.
6. If you find users, old or new, with whom you want to share trips, just click on the "Share your trips with...?" option next to their icon.

• If you click on "Invite" at the top of any page, you'll see a tab labeled "Invite via other networks". You can send out invites through your Gmail, Twitter, Flickr, and Hcard contacts.

For a Humorous Look At Dopplr

• Check out Mahalo Daily's Dopplr informercial:

Step 4: Add Your Trips

Click here to add trips

• To make full use of Dopplr, you need to tell your friends where you're going.

1. At the very top of the page, click on the words "Your Trips".
2. In the "Your Trips" area that appears beneath your icon, click on the words "Add a trip" at the bottom.
3. Enter your destination, the dates your trip begins and ends, and a note about or description of your trip.
4. Click "Add Trip".
5. Now anyone who is allowed to see your trips will know where you're going!
   
   
   

Step 5: Find Out Who Will Be At Your Destination

Colored icons tell you if your trip intersects with someone else's

• Now that you've entered some friends and some trips, you can learn who will be where you are when you're there. You can also find out who's coming to your town!

1. Click on "Your Trips".
2. If someone else is living in a city that you're visiting, or visiting that city while you're there, there will be a red square next to the destination. Below the name of the city, you'll see the names of the friends who will be there.
   • Dopplr does not list who will be in nearby cities. If you'll be in Berkeley and your friend is staying in San Francisco, it will not provide that information.
3. If no one you know will be in the city you're going to, Dopplr will show a green square next to the city name.
4. Under your trip information, you'll see a list of people you are connected to who live there, and those who will be visiting there when you're there.
5. In the area just below your icon, click on the "Fellow Travellers" tab.
6. You will see a list of your friends, with their current location and upcoming trip cities.
7. Click on a city name to find out when they'll be visiting that city.
8. In the area just below your icon, click on the "Your Journal" tab.
9. If someone has recently added a trip to your area, it will be highlighted in yellow in your journal.

Step 6: Stay Connected Through Dopplr Mobile

• Shortly before exiting beta, Dopplr launched a mobile version of its service which all users can now access:

1. Open your mobile web browser.
   • -For you lucky Apple iPhone or iPod Touch owners, you can also add Dopplr Mobile as a webclip.
2. Go to m.dopplr.com.
3. Login to your existing account.

Resources for How to Use Dopplr

• Dopplr: Homepage
• Dopplr: Dopplr Blog

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