Ideas The World Needs That I’ll Never Do #7: Temporary Social Networks
Let’s all get together…but not forever.
I’ve been obsessed with social media for over 20 years now, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have played a part in the creation of a number of new ways for people to meet each other using new technologies. I built Yahoo! Chat, Groups, Personals, Photos and then went to Facebook for a time, so I’ve seen the good, bad and the ugly when it comes to human interaction.
While we’ve become a society that’s addicted to social sharing and self-publication, technology has yet to insert itself into some very basic human interactions.
One area I’ve always wanted to explore is Temporary Social Networks. Unlike creating a connection with someone you know via work or friends, this product would be based on limited time and place windows. For example, if you were taking a flight or staying at a specific hotel, wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to interact with fellow travelers? If you were at a conference or visiting Kauai for the week, it’d be fun to be able to browse and connect with new people with shared interests.
Limited versions of these products exist, but none seem to have stuck or created critical mass. Conferences often have apps these days, and you can browse and sometimes connect with other attendees. Tinder and other dating apps have the ability to geographically focus, but not the confined communities I envision. On some planes, there have been chat tools for years (although no one has ever used them). But I’ve never had a hotel or an airline ask me if I wanted to meet the other folks I’d be flying/staying with…and I’d certainly be intrigued.
While less temporary, I’d also love to be able to meet others in my condominium, apartment building or on my street. NextDoor and others have tried, although they’re less profile driven, and more message board.
The challenge with interacting with people you don’t know is that you may only want to meet certain people, and you may want to avoid others (i.e. a woman who doesn’t want to be propositioned in a hotel). OK…that’s a reasonable ask, and I think Bumble handles that well. This app could have similar thresholds — I only want to be visible to married women ages 30–40 who like yoga, for example.
I think my expectations are unrealistic and fail to account for human behavior, as I think most people get really weird around meeting new people. I’ve always tried to use technology to bridge the gaps that prevent people from meeting each other, but it seems that people’s aversion to meeting strangers has only gotten stronger over the years since the Internet was born.
So, I’d say this idea has a lesser chance than others at being a commercial success…this is more of an observation of a gap that, in a perfect world, would be a nice use of technology to increase human interaction. It would be fun to meet new people
