A year ago I was out of a meeting and starting walking in a very busy district in the city. It was about lunch time and I was starving. I wanted to grab a bite but did not want to do it alone. So I called a friend of mine hoping he would be somewhere nearby. He wasn’t. Then I texted another friend asking her whereabouts. She was busy. This chain of reactions kept on going until I gave up and went into a random restaurant all by myself. Then it hit me. I did not even think about using Facebook, Twitter or any other social networks! It was almost year 2014, and the current social networking solutions were not feasible for a face to face meet up!
Most of the social networks are there to answer a question? It is just the way they exist.
- What are you up to? – Facebook.
- What’s on your mind? – Twitter.
- What picture do you want to share? – Instagram.
- Where are you? – Foursquare.
Obviously all the current social networks provide solutions for past time events of our lives. Present time at best. But none of them are actually designed to answer the question that can bring people together in real life.
Yes you can post a status update on Facebook, or tweet about it, or share your location and earn points, but none of these methods are in fact ideal to be used when you want to socialize in real life. I have been talking with lots of young people especially between ages 16-24, and let me tell you, they are CRAVING for alternative solutions with regards to their socializing needs. One of them once told me “what is the point of using social networks if it does not help me get together with my friends in real life?” Another had told me that “social networks are only good for virtual socializing” which made me think about it even deeper. What is the purpose of social networks? That is why we need alternative applications like Socialeyes, so that we remember that the actual socializing experience is still to be improved in the years ahead. It should not be about what I did last night, but rather should be about “what I want to do at the moment” and “what will I be doing in the future.”
Another mistake I see in today’s location based social networks is that they expect you to type down your intentions. Well hello! The users like to press, click, swipe, but they are not a huge fan of “typing” especially when it comes to announcing their social intentions. Typing “who is up for coffee?” on Facebook is perhaps not the best way to express your short term plans. You may not receive any likes, comments or messages causing the user to feel bad about him/herself. It is more of a “loser” feeling for the user when the post is unanswered. Besides the friends have to check their newsfeed very frequently so that they can see these open invitations. The time when a friend even notices that a friend was nearby and/or was up for an activity, would be later that day, probably seeing it posted couple of hours ago. Well how about using “push notifications”? But then again we come to the same problem that none of the social networks are designed that way.
Apps and the solutions they provide will always evolve and bring new ideas to the app world. That is why I believe new apps should be given a chance so that the big players out there know that they have to do better to serve their users. Do you also feel that there has to be a change in today’s social networking apps? We would love to hear your opinion! Drop us a note at support@socialeyesapp.com or tweet @socialeyesapp