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Hard on the heels of our story about Fast Society’s iPhone app comes word of another mobile app for real-time group communication. Available for both iPhone and Android, GroupMe is a free tool from New York-based Mindless Dribble that gives groups of friends private text messaging and instant conference calls. Users of GroupMe — which is now in beta — begin by entering their name and telephone number to start a group. GroupMe then generates a unique phone number for that group and sends it to the user. From there, the user can add friends to the group and send everyone group messages. The group’s number also serves as a conference line, so dialing it will ring everyone in the group. A photo sharing capability, meanwhile, lets users send photos to all members of their group at once. As many as 25 people can be included in a group at any one time, but users can create as many groups as they want — one for their basketball team, one for coordinating a surprise party, one for the PTA, one for updating family members while travelling, etc. (See GroupMe’s blog for examples of how people are putting the technology to use.) Like Fast Society, GroupMe does not require that users have a smartphone — every phone that can send and receive text messages is supported. It also currently works only in the U.S. Another one to help bring to other parts of the world! Spotted by: Parul Rohatgi