And now for the encore, Cameo

Back in more innocent times, our intrepid reporter Adrianne Jeffries went down to SXSW to cover the group messaging wars. A clutch of startups including Beluga, GroupMe, Kik and Fast Society were all battling to be the breakout star. GroupMe did the grilled cheese party, Fast Society countered with the shuttle bus from the airport.

Since then, Beluga was bought by Facebook and GroupMe got acquired by Skype. Kik is still going, but last night Fast Society, always the wildest of the bunch, announced they were shutting down their messaging service and moving on to a new app, Cameo, they will be launching in January. 

According to the company's blog, "While at SXSW this past spring, we saw something really special happening on Fast Society. We captured incredible moments we shared with friends, but had no way to show them off. Over the past several months, a simple idea evolved into a brand new creation...Cameo."

Hmmm, sounds like Cameo will let folks collect those drunken texts and photos and display them in the timeless way they really deserve. Watch your back Bnter. You too, Instagram.

GigaOm's Ryan Kim did an interview with Fast Society founder Matthew Rosenberg, who said this new product will be closer to the startup's original vision. "We originally thought of Fast Society as a way to save moments and capture experiences together but because of the circumstances and the competition, we got caught up in group text messaging."

So Fast Society got caught up in the fast times of the early stage boom. It happens. The company did score a partnership with MTV, but they were never in denial about the business model. Hell, they even admitted themselves group texting as a business was "bullshit". When you're building what amounts to a feature that Apple or Android can turn on at whim, it's important to know the right people in the world of mergers and acquisitions.

ZOMGS. We hear TripMedi, the New York winner of the Startup Bus competition, has a Y Combinator interview this weekend. Also, we have their deck.

FAST SOCIETY SPENDING DOLLARS. Fast Society is hiring for a UI developer to "craft consistent, elegant UI with continuity between the web and mobile apps." While main evangelist Matthew Rosenberg used to boast the company was "bootstrapped" in contrast to their ten-times-bemillioned New York competitor GroupMe (even though FS raised $275,000 in the fall and then snagged a Crunchie nomination for a Best Bootstrapped Start-Up the next month--we're still trying to add that up), the job listing stresses different points. "We're a small, funded, tight-knit team based in NYC," it says. "We've created a ton of amazing tools to help friends communicate on the go (short-term groups, instant conference calls, location sharing, shout-outs and group texting without the need for keywords: all our ideas)." We thought maybe the change in messaging meant the company had scared up some cash for its efforts at South By Southwest, but Mr. Rosenberg denies there's been any new funding: "Traffic is up. Brand is hot. We need more people," he said in an email.

GROUPME TAKES A TRIP, DRAMA IN NEW DIGS. Moving on down the group texting start-up alphabet, GroupMe recently moved into a new office in SoSha (South of Shake Shack), which we assume is swag, because you know, the millions, BUT it sounds like the travel stress is manifesting in petty office politics. "Came back from SF to find my chair stolen and Campfire FULL OF PORN," developer Pat Nakajima tweeted today. ANYway, we're wondering, why the West Coast touch-and-go? Hardly seems worth the musical chairs, unless it's for more millions OR FOR MEETING THE PRESIDENT.

DEPT. OF PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE TWEETS. "When you write a tongue & cheek post about being a woman in tech make sure a. U r funny, b. U can actually write," start-up PR mavenatrix Brooke Hammerling advised today on Twitter. Aw...

ANNALS OF STRETCHING: Recently The Wall Street Journal reported that Foursquare is raising funding at a $500 million valuation. That sounds like a high number the company leaked to grease the wheels, area investors said sagely to Betabeat. The story was written by Spencer Ante, who interviewed meta-mayor Dennis Crowley about the company's $20 million raise in June; this time, he cites "people familiar with the matter," and the same "the people" said the number could maybe be a bit high for a company with "little revenue."  ALSO, LITTLE HEADLINE DISCREPANCY THERE: On Twitter, Mr. Ante said "Foursquare Seeks New Fund Raising That Could Value It For As Much as $500M, Though It's a Stretch." On the site, it's just "Foursquare Seeks Funds." Hm!

Disclosure.

We're hearing that Fast Society has some potential suitors hot to get their hands on the app that's built to party. Is it Andrew W.K.?! We asked FS, and they "don't comment on rumors," but the company implied they'd be open to an offer. "We are going to do whatever is right for our business and vision," co-founder Matthew Rosenberg said in an email.

GroupMe's Steve Martocci has reached the next level! "There's a new party boy in tech town," the Daily News declared today, based on the rumor that in Austin Mr. Martocci bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which sells for about $250, for "each of approximately 40-employees in his New York office." Sounds like a lucky day for Jumo, which shares an office with the 13 GroupMes. WAIT--WE HAVE RECEIVED A TWEET--in real-time, from the GroupMe HQ! It seems the NYDN may be FOS. Or maybe Mr. Martocci just doesn't want to share with community manager, Sir "Sassy" Steve Spillman.

Philly Startup Weekend produced LaunchRock, the simple-yet-brilliant, single best hype machine for start-ups that have not yet launched, and we're now hearing that the company is getting funded to the tune of $400,000 and being shipped out to the Bay Area soon. They're having a party in New York, we heard, and you'll have to invite three people in order to get in--viral marketing in action!

It's a great day for hackathon-hatched start-ups! TripMedi, the app that was built on a bus, is suffering from an embarrassment of riches. A few investors from New York and beyond are going after the company, which isn't sure if it wants to go for AngelList or apply to TechStars or Y Combinator or what. One thing seems clear--it looks like three members of the team are off the bus, leaving a committed core of three: Roland Dillon, Steve Schlafman, and Londoner Ravi Kotecha, who is going to need a visa. It's been a total whirlwind for the company that was built in seven days--but they've got good training, considering they coded on the road during a tornado.

Did you notice that half of New York tech went on vacation after SXSW? Or maybe it was just Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, who headed down to Mexico to become mayor of Puerto Vallerta. Jealz.

Disclosure.

Pop looked at tweets from March 11-15 about GroupMe, Beluga, Fast Society, Kik and Yobongo. Not only did GroupMe garner the most chatter, 19 percent of that chatter was positive, nearly double the next most popular.

Kik, recently funded by Union Square Ventures and RRE, grabbed the third spot in terms of overall buzz, but also had by far the highest level of negative sentiment.

The idea behind these apps is that they let people form intimate little cliques, although it seems like this didn't always pan at at SXSW. "In practice group messaging is kind of weak on the exclusivity thing, because you’re almost always roped into groups with at least one person you don’t like which prevents you from sharing potentially useful information regarding your whereabouts," griped Alexia Tsotsis.