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TechCrunch reports on an interesting new startup, Hot Potato. It’s a micro-messaging service that allows people to connect over live events happening right now, as well as to keep tabs on what their friends are up to. They have an iPhone app on the way which will use GPS to show you events happening near your location.

Hot Potato will unsurprisingly be able to connect to your Twitter or Facebook accounts, and will allow you to send your event status updates to those services. It has a “check in” system similar to Four Square, but it also allows for posting notes and photos about the event as well.

Basically, the service sounds like a lovechild between Twitter and Four Square, and I could see it being useful to some folks. I don’t see this startup getting too big though, most likely the tech will be bought out by one of the bigger social networks looking to better their services. iPhone Twitter apps like Tweetie can already allow you to see tweets happening near your location, Hot Potato seems like it just adds a bit more organization.

We’ll have a full report on Hot Potato once their app is released.

[Source: TechCrunch]