Hello everyone! I’m in the process of developing an app that will aim to facilitate organic interaction in public to hopefully foster platonic and/or romantic relationships.
Before I dump a bunch of time/resources into this, I’d like some feedback! I want to ensure that the general public will be inclined to use such an app.
How it works:
Input keyword(s) that define yourself along with the “rules” that govern your matches (age range, gender, etc,). Turn the app “on” and if you walk past anyone with the same/similar keywords, you’ll both be notified (you’ll also both know the reason why you connected). There is no swiping/liking involved. This only has a range of about 20 feet and will only work in public. Basically, this will just notify you of like minded individuals that you’re near. Kinda like a wingman, if you will.
For example:
A man just moved to a new city and would like to meet platonic friends who have shared interests. He uses this app and puts in the keywords: “finance”, “nightlife”, and “golf.” Then, he sets his “rules” to only connect with people his age. He turns the app “on” and goes about his daily life. While walking in the grocery store, he walks past a man who has the same/similar keywords and they connect. From here, they can have a conversation based on whatever keyword(s) matched them together. If it was “finance”, then they can talk about the stock market or something.
Please note:
– If two users connect, that means both had the app “on” and were interested in meeting people (thus, making it less/non intrusive).
– don’t focus on the logistics too much as this was a very broad explanation. I’m more so interested in opinions on “connecting” with someone in real life.
Thank you for any opinions! I really appreciate it and this will help me greatly.
4 comments
Looks like the same pitfalls that the apps have. Just because 2 ppl like golf and finance doesn’t mean they’re gong to like each other. Hell they may even hate each other.
You can’t boil down human interactions to keywords.
You may need to consider the safety implications of this.
What happens if a person is hiding at the edge of a dark alley looking for potential victims to rob. They can use your app to find people who are 20 feet away.
Or maybe a well-meaning person with angry problems and violent tendencies will want to start a conversation with someone about golf, take rejection poorly, and get physically violent.
(Software engineer here, who formerly worked in moderation, so I’m going to be asking some weirdly specific questions)
So the idea is that it would be free to use, by making sure it runs only locally on the user’s phone? (Thereby eliminating the need to pay for any content hosting)
Have you done any brainstorming on ways this app might be misused? For instance, a young woman might not want this app on in places she cannot avoid (home, workplace) if someone begins to stalk her. Will you be adding “blackout locations” where the app automatically turns itself off, to protect the user from accidentally leaving it on in such places? Or perhaps an option to have the app automatically turn itself off after a specified period of time, to ensure the user can have it on for an event but not be accidentally broadcasting themselves for a long period if they forget to turn it off again. I can see potential bad actors walking the halls of an apartment complex to see if anyone interesting (or specific!) pops up.
Since the app is essentially broadcasting potentially sensitive information about the user (photo, age, current location, device info?, interests) how will you ensure that information cannot be mined or collected for use outside your app? Keep in mind this also includes information stored *in* the app itself – if user A and B match, that means their information was transmitted *and stored* on the other device in some fashion (in order to display it). It does no good encrypting the transmission itself if the data is stored plainly on the device for anyone to mine.
I think it’s potentially a really interesting idea, although the complete inability to moderate users (due to the decentralized nature of it) is a potential pitfall. If mostly jackasses adopt it, initial users will have negative experiences, create bad press, and it’ll die fast. But that’s the price you pay for free, decentralized apps I guess 😛
I guess I don’t see what makes this a different experience from any of the other apps..