MessageParty is location-based chat. You open the app and it gives you a list of nearby parties that have been created by others. It's useful for concerts, events, conferences, etc.
It's even got a harder battle ahead of it than a dating site does. With Message Party, there's gotta people a ton of people using the site at that moment.
Presumably, you restrict people from joining a party based on their location. But I imagine there are a few edge cases. For example, if I'm on my way to a concert but want to know something about a tent beforehand, can I do it?
If this app does indeed take off it will be an interesting statement about modern society. Perhaps it means we have become antisocial, or perhaps it simply means we've found a better ice breaker. I'll hope for the latter ;)
I think their vision goes beyond parties/concerts/events. It's like a mobile Q&A for a specific area. What if you were at a brick and mortar store such as Bestbuy and had a question of opinion that both the other customers there and employees can answer? Or at a restaurant and wanted to quickly know what were the best dishes people are enjoying at that moment and at that specific restaurant? Many different business applications.
I feel like this would be better if it were more like Bump. Basically everyone in a specific range could post to other people's devices. Support for iPhone only is lame too.
It's an iPhone app for location-based chat. You open up MessageParty and it shows you a list of geographically defined "rooms" (e.g., "Mountain View, CA" or "Startup School"). This means you can chat with other people in the same town or at the same concert or conference, for example.
they could always leverage a combination of infrastructure and peer-to-peer technology.
That was going to be my first question, if they use some adhoc stuff or not? Considering it is an iPhone app (maybe not) and ofcourse there are technical challenges of who hosts the message.
No, I bet the idea came from an annual event at MIT's DU chapter. The name of the event is "Message Party" and the idea is the same but with physical messages and takes place at a frat party. It's been going on for years and years.
Until mobile carriers solve the no service problem at large festivals, this app isn't useful in that situation. I was also at Austin City Limits last weekend with no 3G service at all, all day.
This is by far one of the the coolest startups I've heard of in a while. Unlike many today, it solves a real problem for real people. I also love the fact that it bridges tech with reality (and by that, I mean physical interaction). While this seems like an obvious concept, it is completely overlooked by a surprising number of startups these days, I think it is a pretty essential component.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 60.3 ms ] threadPerfect ground for a Web 1.0 multi-million dollar marketing barrage, but kinda difficult otherwise.
Presumably, you restrict people from joining a party based on their location. But I imagine there are a few edge cases. For example, if I'm on my way to a concert but want to know something about a tent beforehand, can I do it?
Why don't people just turn off their phones and enjoy the concert/event/whatever?
Meh what is society coming to!
That was going to be my first question, if they use some adhoc stuff or not? Considering it is an iPhone app (maybe not) and ofcourse there are technical challenges of who hosts the message.
I will definitely try to spread the word in Boston. Good luck!
Of course there's also the battery and signal issues that would make it useless at any festival I've ever been to.
Maybe there are other situations in which it would be useful though...