Let’s build Flock for passive hangout discovery
I think something like this would make the Neighborhood feel truly alive:
The goal is to increase serendipity between you and your best friends.
Unlike other location sharing apps:
It’s less invasive. You’re only shown when in a public hangout spot, like The Commons, not when you’re somewhere private, like at home.
It’s less high stakes. You can share your location until you just hang out next, if you like.
It’ll respect your focus. You’ll be hidden when your phone is on Do Not Disturb.
It allows for polite, non-confrontational refusals. Slightly obscuring when someone declines to advance a relationship, and allowing the decliner some plausible deniability in case they change their mind later, is really crucial for graceful social interactions IRL. Most social apps don't really get this right, and fail to distinguish between different levels of intimacy with different people.
It assumes you’ll install it and never really open it again. Flock is built around high-signal notifications, whereas other apps, like Saturday, assume you’ll open them “to see who wants to hang out” (which isn’t a thing most people actually do). I know this because I built a previous version of this app (also called Flock) for my old coliving house. I made a live-updating dashboard and bought tablets and literally displayed them on walls throughout the house and it still didn’t take. However, they I learned that they really loved being notified whenever there’s something fun currently happening downstairs. This app doubles down on that learning.
Location sharing apps aren’t new, but I think there’s a good chance that a good one will work really well in the Neighborhood, because it’s much more compelling when your friends are already within walking distance. Serendipity is what makes a place feel like a campus!
Notification type 1: when a Group hits critical mass
Example 1: “3 Climate House folks (Tara, Kyle, and Ryan) are currently at MadSci Studios!”
To configure: “Notify me when ≥ 3 Climate House folks are in MadSci Studios"
You’ll be able to create/join a Group, such as “Archivists”, “Solarians”, “Degens”, “Coworking buddies” etc. I predict smaller Groups (like 4-15ish) will most benefit from this feature, and that it won’t work as well for very large Groups, like 200 Commoners.
The app will launch with half a dozen preconfigured Locations, and you’ll be able to multi-select them or select any community space. You’ll also be able to add new locations (in v2).
Notification type 2: hang with a friend organically
This feature is double opt-in: both people have to say yes. It’s more like “Add Friend” than “Follow”.
Example: Max receives: “Jason is currently at The Commons”
To configure: “Let Max Krieger know when I’m at The Commons until we next hang out / for a week / indefinitely as long as I’m within 10m walk (0.5 miles) / 20m walk (1 mile) / 2 miles / anywhere”
Then, Max gets this notification: Jason’s sharing his presence at The Commons with you. Let him know when you’re there?” Mute notifications from Jason / share until we next hang out / share for a week / share indefinitely
Crucially, the other person won’t know your choice, which allows you to politely decline without hurting any feelings.
This is cool because if you and someone else have been meaning to hang out, you could use this feature to make that hangout happen more organically, when you’re actually in the mood to hang out, instead of scheduling it on your calendars.
Want to help?
DM or email me at ~~~~jasoncbenn@gmail.com
My ideal collaboration: we meet in person to do a couple hackathons on weekends, ship a prototype, and then DM it to everyone in the Neighborhood. Then we’d interview friends and iterate until we give up or until people actually use it and love it.
Update 2023-03-03: I’ve hired Aria Sabeti to build a prototype.
Update 2022-11-21: Derek Pankaew, Rose Shannon (who’s open to more design contracting) and I designed a prototype that’s backend-only: you’ll set up an IFTT app with geofences, which will ping a backend that can do all the logic.
Update 2023-01-14: still excited, but haven’t found time to built this! The Neighborhood has an opportunity opening up in March/April to capitalize on, but that requires a crunch period for the next couple months. Will build this in Q2 or Q3.