Not that we need another way to engage in social networking since we already have Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and countless others BUT…there is an iPhone app just released on the market which put an interesting spin on the whole concept altogether. Enter FlyChat a social networking application that lets users go through the motions of awkward social interaction with complete strangers.
The whole scheme works via a virtual fly which users attach a message to. The message then has the possibility to be received by any iPhone user with the FlyChat application. FlyChat app gives a couple of options for message delivery; you can send it to a specific friend you already have, or send it to a group of contacts you already know, or even send it to random people all over the world (by selecting a region and letting the fly spread its wings). Messages can also be tagged with a category (say like classic car restoration) so that receivers on their end will know what you’re yapping about. When a receiver gets your note they get a profile snapshot of you consisting of biographic information and a pic. The receiver then decides whether or not they want to respond to you based on these tidbits.
The beauty of FlyChat is that it lets iPhoner’s build and maintains social connections but not necessarily through existing social contacts. In the arena of social networking this is a nice departure from what’s on the scene but the aspect of communicating with a total stranger online may turn some off. This seems to be not too different than communicating with someone in a chat room. So if I owned an iPhone it would be something interesting to try. Here in the South it is entrenched in our culture to speak to people we don’t know if we run across their path, so why not take this on a mobile and international level? Call it a “high-tech message in a bottle” but I’m going to tag it as a low cost method to make global connections.
