This is a kind of augmented reality app idea. Basically intended to answer the question “who is in this room right now?” Especially useful at conferences but in other situations too, you could have a sort of overlay view of the room/building/city block you are in to see people who have their profile turned to public. You could have a link to your twitter profile, a brief bio, a web site, a picture, and an “I’m interested in…” section. You could quickly browse people nearby to see more about them before you actually meet. In a conference setting, you may have a problem that either the wifi or the cell networks may crap out. You may have to resort to Bluetooth. I presume that that is how apps like Bump work.
Another really interesting use case would be dating. Learn more about the people who are here before you even talk to them. Build on Steve Odom’s original Gelato concept by encouraging “reality-based dating” by having a Facebook or a Twitter authentication portion of it so you at least can associate it with a real profile. It’s like Gary Vaynerchuk said in Austin at Texchange recently…”Facebook is becoming the Driver’s License and it’s on it’s way to the credit card.” Someone must be doing this for dating already. If you hear of any apps like this, please let me know in the comments.
Known Implementations: None
- Yobongo (it’s not exactly the same, but it’s in the same ballpark)
Related:
- Wingman (uses Foursquare)
- Message Party
- Agora App