Calendar Idea that needs [constructive] criticism
I'm thinking about building a social calendar app and want to hear what you guys think. I would like to build an app that would allow you to not only create events and connect with friends, but keep track of where you and your friends will be in the world.
For example, I travel a lot and oftentimes will find out that a friend of mine was in the same city or event at the same time after we had the opportunity to hang out. With so many different people to keep track of, it's difficult to find out where and when you will cross paths again. Social Media is good at seeing where people are / were with posts, but isn't good at seeing where people will be. Regular calendar apps stop short at seeing where people will be because they involve either making explicit groups to share events with, or annoyingly sharing the event with everyone who may or may not find it relevant to them. Specialized calendar apps targeting the social aspect stop short in that they don't notify you
I want to build an app that allows you to organize your life and keep track of where you will be, but allow you to see where others will be as well. Some features I would like to implement is a map synced up to the calendar so you can see where friends are / will be during certain dates, nested events (being in London for the weekend, then specifically in Shoreditch for lunch and Brixton at night, etc.), notifications for when friends will be in the same place / event, connection to Google / Apple calendars for cross-platform schedule updating, and more that I haven't considered yet. Let me know what you think or if you would find this helpful!
It's an interesting topic. Did you make any progress on that? What was your conclusion?
I think it's a good idea, specially when you're at the location, say landed at the airport and you get a "J arrived yesterday here"
What's the business model here though? Ads? I think there won't be enough traffic as not everyone travels that much. Subscription?
I personally don't travel that much but definitely have needed exactly this service once in my lifetime (or maybe more but I didn't know)
Keep it going sounds interesting.
Side note: I think there's only cristisism, the receiver decides if it's constructive or not
Thanks Oscar, I'm still considering how this thing is going to make money but believe that it's truly useful and starts incorporating events and restaurants and bars where people from the app will be attending, perhaps a finders fee could be in order. I'm open to suggestions though!
I think there's an calendar app called IRL: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/irl-social-calendar
How will yours be similar and/or different?
Good find Wei Wei, you actually gave me a few more ideas! I've taken a look at it, and see a lot of good content on here. It seems like they have it pulling data from a few different API's like Ticketmaster and Meetup.com, and allow individuals to create their own events as well. I believe the app I want to build should incorporate these elements and may even go a stop further to have it recommend activities based around the user's schedule and interests. However, it doesn't delve into the social networking element that I would like to focus on in the app where the user can sync up with their friends' schedules and find new and interesting things to do. For instance, the fact that the app asks for your google account over your facebook account shows the focus doesn't lie on social networking. I am going to keep messing with the app!
cool! good luck :)
Have you looked at what previous products did in the space?
Sunrise, Foursquare etc?
Sunrise got absorbed by Outlook and Foursquare does locations but doesn't incorporate locations into a social media environment. The competition either does a facet of our service or doesn't do it at all.
I worked on an event sharing app several years ago. We made a lot of mistakes but I still love the idea of having a map + feed interface with places your friends will be (and maybe some interesting things to check out). A couple of things I'd consider, based on my previous failure:
I still think there's something to this concept, just don't go too broad to start.
Good thinking Matt! I'll have to think hard about the initial niche; it would have to be something overwhelmingly helpful and enjoyable for the target audience, so finding the right audience and activities is essential! I'm considering the travelling student or businessman who would like to connect with people and explore cities not only by finding activities to do and places to do them, but also connecting with friends or people also interested in the same things.