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The beauty of the internet is that physical/geographic distance is not the deciding factor any more. Two people far separated by geography can be very close onl

by ssivark 12y ago

The beauty of the internet is that physical/geographic distance is not the deciding factor any more. Two people far separated by geography can be very close online. So why would an internet-enabled app re-introduce artificial geographic rigidity?

draugadrotten 12y ago
Sometimes artificial limits adds to the fun. Why is soccer only played with feet and not with hands, and why can't I kick a basketball? And why can't I go outside the hockey rink at will.
- michaelmcmillan 12y ago
  I think the greatest example of this is Snapchat with their short lifespan.
themoonbus 12y ago
Well, as I see it, different apps for different purposes. Information that is only relevant in a certain geographic area won't spread beyond that area. Information that is widely relevant will spread widely (if I understand the app correctly, I haven't actually used it). Also, many communication platforms have "arbitrary" constraints (square photos, 140 characters) that help shape the user experience.
ianferrel 12y ago
There are times when geographic locality is the thing you want to filter on. A few weeks ago, I was stuck on a freeway. Completely stopped. After about 10 minutes of no motion I really wished I had been able to do a "search within 1/2 mile of my location" sort of thing to find out what was going on and when it would likely be fixed, so I could decide to tell the friends I was meeting "I'll be a bit late" or "Sorry, guys, go on without me".
- tetrep 12y ago
  >There are times when geographic locality is the thing you want to filter on. Which has nothing to do with actually being near said locality. I think filtering on geographic locations is great, but even greater is that ability to do so while remote. I can learn about events occurring in and around a specific area without actually being in that area. That's (part of) the beauty of the internet.
  - ianferrel 12y ago
    I disagree that it has nothing to do with it. I'm way more likely to be interested in stuff happening near where I currently am than in some other arbitrary place. Sure, sometimes it makes sense to be able to search elsewhere, but that makes things more complicated for marginal gains. Yelp is a good example. Yes, I've used it to research food in other locations, but it would still be 95% as useful to me if the only thing it did was show me stuff that was nearby, since that's what I almost always use it for.
- yaddayadda 12y ago
  You should check out waze https://www.waze.com/ https://www.waze.com/
  - nilkn 12y ago
    I was a dedicated Wazer for a while and I eventually had to accept that it just didn't work. I could count on one hand maybe the number of instances where it actually seemed to react to construction or road obstacles in a practical way. I could count on 10-20 hands the number of times it tried to get me to maneuver across several lanes of traffic in order to spend 30 feet on some back road only to get back onto the road I was just on, having to re-maneuver across lanes. Also, at some point a few months ago they redesigned the ride sharing interface. I'm referring to the feature where you can link a friend so they can see your drive. I used this all the time with my girlfriend when I'd come to visit, so she could see how close I was. Then it completely broke. It became horribly unreliable. In the end I left Waze for Google Maps because it didn't seem to actually deliver on any of its goals.
07a 12y ago
The popularity of Yik-Yak has kind of already proven that you are objectively wrong.
Kurtz79 12y ago
There are plenty of apps for which geographic vicinity is crucial to the service they provide: meetup, yelp, uber... apps for which the end goal is for the user to interact with, or obtaining information about, something/someone close to him/her. To be fair, the description of this app it's so vague that it's hard to see how distance would affect its users.
- bbcbasic 12y ago
  During the growth stage they probably need to allow infections to go far (otherwise if you are in a sleepy town you see nothing and stop using it) Once they gain traction, you will get too many infections from around the world and may be interesting in what is happening local. I like how vague it is - it is allowing the the users to define it's purpose. A bit like Facebook. Already seen too many cats on there for one day though. One is too many.
  - jerf 12y ago
    "Already seen too many cats on there for one day though. One is too many." Well, that's the fatal flaw of this recurring "let's build a local social network!" idea... if you wanted to indiscriminately talk to people all around you in your area, you already would be. By and large, you don't have every neighbor on your Facebook because you don't really want them there.... I still haven't seen a compelling use case that isn't based largely on wishful thinking or nostalgia (often for eras not lived in by the nostalgia-ee that may or may not even have existed...), rather than being based on some sort of witnessed need.
andrewfong 12y ago
It's perfect for something like a protest, especially if you're worried about a (non-local) adversary flooding the network with irrelevant information. See some of the coverage on the use of FireChat in Hong Kong (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/tech/mobile/tomorrow-transformed-firechat/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/tech/mobile/tomorrow-transform...). Along a similar vein, I could see localized information being very useful during an emergency or natural disaster. "Downed power lines on Main Street" means different things depending on the poster's geography.
- alsoosla 12y ago
  But you can't take your cell phone to protests anymore - we live in a constant mass-surveillance society now. So unless you don't care that that protest will be added to your personal profile, you leave it at home.
mb_72 12y ago
Perhaps it could work as follows: 1) in terms of information sharing you are always sharing what is 'nearby' with others who are 'nearby'; this keeps the information flowing no matter what 2) in terms of information DISPLAY, it defaults to monitoring what is 'nearby' BUT you can also choose to remotely monitor other geographic areas (while 1) is still happening)

by ssivark 12y ago

draugadrotten 12y ago

Sometimes artificial limits adds to the fun. Why is soccer only played with feet and not with hands, and why can't I kick a basketball? And why can't I go outside the hockey rink at will.

michaelmcmillan 12y ago
I think the greatest example of this is Snapchat with their short lifespan.

themoonbus 12y ago

Well, as I see it, different apps for different purposes. Information that is only relevant in a certain geographic area won't spread beyond that area. Information that is widely relevant will spread widely (if I understand the app correctly, I haven't actually used it). Also, many communication platforms have "arbitrary" constraints (square photos, 140 characters) that help shape the user experience.

ianferrel 12y ago

There are times when geographic locality is the thing you want to filter on. A few weeks ago, I was stuck on a freeway. Completely stopped. After about 10 minutes of no motion I really wished I had been able to do a "search within 1/2 mile of my location" sort of thing to find out what was going on and when it would likely be fixed, so I could decide to tell the friends I was meeting "I'll be a bit late" or "Sorry, guys, go on without me".

tetrep 12y ago
>There are times when geographic locality is the thing you want to filter on. Which has nothing to do with actually being near said locality. I think filtering on geographic locations is great, but even greater is that ability to do so while remote. I can learn about events occurring in and around a specific area without actually being in that area. That's (part of) the beauty of the internet.
- ianferrel 12y ago
  I disagree that it has nothing to do with it. I'm way more likely to be interested in stuff happening near where I currently am than in some other arbitrary place. Sure, sometimes it makes sense to be able to search elsewhere, but that makes things more complicated for marginal gains. Yelp is a good example. Yes, I've used it to research food in other locations, but it would still be 95% as useful to me if the only thing it did was show me stuff that was nearby, since that's what I almost always use it for.
yaddayadda 12y ago
You should check out waze https://www.waze.com/ https://www.waze.com/
- nilkn 12y ago
  I was a dedicated Wazer for a while and I eventually had to accept that it just didn't work. I could count on one hand maybe the number of instances where it actually seemed to react to construction or road obstacles in a practical way. I could count on 10-20 hands the number of times it tried to get me to maneuver across several lanes of traffic in order to spend 30 feet on some back road only to get back onto the road I was just on, having to re-maneuver across lanes. Also, at some point a few months ago they redesigned the ride sharing interface. I'm referring to the feature where you can link a friend so they can see your drive. I used this all the time with my girlfriend when I'd come to visit, so she could see how close I was. Then it completely broke. It became horribly unreliable. In the end I left Waze for Google Maps because it didn't seem to actually deliver on any of its goals.

07a 12y ago

The popularity of Yik-Yak has kind of already proven that you are objectively wrong.

Kurtz79 12y ago

There are plenty of apps for which geographic vicinity is crucial to the service they provide: meetup, yelp, uber... apps for which the end goal is for the user to interact with, or obtaining information about, something/someone close to him/her. To be fair, the description of this app it's so vague that it's hard to see how distance would affect its users.

bbcbasic 12y ago
During the growth stage they probably need to allow infections to go far (otherwise if you are in a sleepy town you see nothing and stop using it) Once they gain traction, you will get too many infections from around the world and may be interesting in what is happening local. I like how vague it is - it is allowing the the users to define it's purpose. A bit like Facebook. Already seen too many cats on there for one day though. One is too many.
- jerf 12y ago
  "Already seen too many cats on there for one day though. One is too many." Well, that's the fatal flaw of this recurring "let's build a local social network!" idea... if you wanted to indiscriminately talk to people all around you in your area, you already would be. By and large, you don't have every neighbor on your Facebook because you don't really want them there.... I still haven't seen a compelling use case that isn't based largely on wishful thinking or nostalgia (often for eras not lived in by the nostalgia-ee that may or may not even have existed...), rather than being based on some sort of witnessed need.

andrewfong 12y ago

It's perfect for something like a protest, especially if you're worried about a (non-local) adversary flooding the network with irrelevant information. See some of the coverage on the use of FireChat in Hong Kong (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/tech/mobile/tomorrow-transformed-firechat/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/tech/mobile/tomorrow-transform...). Along a similar vein, I could see localized information being very useful during an emergency or natural disaster. "Downed power lines on Main Street" means different things depending on the poster's geography.

alsoosla 12y ago
But you can't take your cell phone to protests anymore - we live in a constant mass-surveillance society now. So unless you don't care that that protest will be added to your personal profile, you leave it at home.

mb_72 12y ago

Perhaps it could work as follows: 1) in terms of information sharing you are always sharing what is 'nearby' with others who are 'nearby'; this keeps the information flowing no matter what 2) in terms of information DISPLAY, it defaults to monitoring what is 'nearby' BUT you can also choose to remotely monitor other geographic areas (while 1) is still happening)