Got Enemies? Avoidr Is the Mobile Social App for You
Location-based social has a lot of interest right now -- and a lot of potential utility. Not only is it fun to know where your friends are, but services like Foursquare actually mark the first time that marketers can reach customers at the right time in the right place -- unless you count those cheesy coupons dispensers you occasionally find attached to store shelves.
But there are hazards in telling people where you are, so as location-based social gains steam, people are developing some intriguing apps to mitigate them; like Avoidr, a plug-in to Foursquare that lets you select people you want to avoid and then alerts you as to where those people have checked-in (Foursquare parlance for telling people where you are). In other words, go to that Starbucks on the corner at your own peril if the app tells you your ex is there . (Sorry the graphic from the Web site is so small ... the subhead says: "Keep your friends close and your enemies at that bar down the street.")
Services like Avoidr are interesting because they underscore that a whole social sub-culture is being built around the fact, that, increasingly, social media is a mobile phenomenon. While the whole idea of Avoidr is pretty humorous -- suggesting that the 20,000 people who have used it have deep, dark pasts -- you can also see apps being built around more and more location-based concerns.
It will be great to have apps that give users intel, not even from their friends, of what the crowd is like at a certain bar, or how crowded the airport is, or where the people you've expressed interest in on Match.com are hanging out. These ideas are simply my speculation, but mobile social creates new opportunities because it adds an additional layer of context to social interaction. It's one thing to post photos on Facebook. It's entirely another to be on the way to the mall and wonder what the parking is like at that moment, or what's on sale.
So, while one hopes most of us don't have a long list of people we're really interested in avoiding, it's not about this particular app. Most of us will find use for mobile social applications that are relevant to us, whether we have enemies, or not.
Previous coverage of mobile social at BNET Media: