The next generation of social networking

Introduction

Social networking is not necessarily about what you do with friends. In many ways, the more essential core of social networking is our impulse to grow our networks by connecting to new people, new resources and new opportunities. The online social networks available in today’s world only allow people to connect with friends and others who work, study and live around them, and on a long-term basis. In the real world, however, we communicate not only with people we know, but also with people with whom we are not acquainted when we have a common purpose. The connection could just last a few minutes or grow into a long-term relationship. The application proposed here aims to give users the ability to connect with every member of the community and who shares a common purpose.  

What the App does 

The product has endless possibilities and can be utilized to its best based on individual’s specific needs. There will be two ways to navigate through the app - Map view and Directory view. In the map view, users can see friends and other people connected to the app in real time. They can see people around them or in any part of the world -- in a specific locality, school, office, or elsewhere. The app uses GPS to identify the exact location of the people connected to the network and displays their locations on the map as markers. Users can then tap on any of the markers to establish a phone call, video call or text chat. In the directory/list view, users can see businesses connected to the app. They can select a specific business category, view the resulting list of businesses and service providers, and locate them on the map. The app also enables its users to contact any business around the world. It will allow users to switch to full map view to locate the businesses on map and contact the desired business. The app will always run in the background and use GPS data to trace the current geolocation of the people connected to the community.

Key components

1. Always on connect
2. GPS sensor
3. Touch sensor
4. Inertial sensor based Gesture recognition
5. Metro style
6. Social
7. Voice and video call/ conferencing
8. Text Messaging/ Chat

Scenario of use

1. Seeking information from anyone

The user can contact anyone running the App and ask for location-specific information such as weather, road traffic or opinion about a local business, etc. Thus they get the information from anywhere without the need to personally visit that location. To encourage people to respond to the incoming calls, we plan to give points to users that respond to a call but not necessarily they provide useful information to the caller. People can use the points earned to connect others when needed. After every call, we could optionally ask the caller to rate the response and tell us if the information was helpful or inaccurate. The points will be awarded to the respondent in accordance to the feedback. 

2. Friends look-up

User can create different contact groups and remotely find their whereabouts. The user could see how many of his/her friends have turned up for an event that they all have planned. If they are in the city center, see how many of their friends are nearby. The user can tap anyone (on the touch screen) and speak to the person instantly.

3. Business look-up 

If a user is on a shopping trip and not able to find the stuff he/she is looking for, from wherever they are they can check out the businesses or products listing in the App and find the relevant businesses around them. Unlike other business directories or call services, the app will only show the listings that are active and up-to-date.

4. Track and monitor 

For fleet owners that wants to track the current position of their trucks/cars or a concerned father in office who wants to know if his loved one is back home from school safely without really calling them, these users can easily check their whereabouts within the app. If they want to speak to them or make a video call it’s just a one click away.

Privacy  

To ensure the users’ privacy is protected, the app will have features such as Do not disturb/ invisible mode, accept calls only from known circles, GPS on/off, block specific caller, etc.

Schemas 

Map View  

Member Quick View 

Voice Call 

Video Conference 

Directory View 

Invite Friends