When I encounter myself in these sort of situations I feel uncomfortable so I kind of empathize with the author. And it's funny because I'm working on an iPhone

When I encounter myself in these sort of situations I feel uncomfortable so I kind of empathize with the author. And it's funny because I'm working on an iPhone app which is aimed at solving these kind of situations where you want to start new conversations with strangers. It's called Joiner ( http://www.joinerapp.com http://www.joinerapp.com ) if you want to check it out (shameless plug). However, I think I'm not only worried by how to approach people more easily, but also to find good conversations. If it's already very hard to start a conversation with a stranger, imagine finding a good topic of conversation. In my case, on most occasions I always talk about the same thing, like what I do, where I am from and what I have studied. Because I don't know what I have in common with the other person I don't risk pushing other topics into the conversation, which would be great if, for instance, I entered a room and could instantly detect people with similar interests in technology, music or whatever. That's why we have created Joiner, to help removing the pain of meeting new people and by making it more engaging.