There have been a number of apps that have tried to succeed in the providing information regarding your ambient location. SocialRadar works by providing you with real-time information regarding the people around you by connecting to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Foursquare accounts to pull information about locations and recent activities. Know who’s nereby, see how you are connected to them, and discover what they have been up to. You are able to control aspects of your privacy. It does this by combining your phones location with chatter from the social networks. It is currently available for iOS and they are working on a version for Android and Google Glass.
37 thoughts on “Real-time Information Regarding People Around You – SocialRadar”
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Honestly, aside from all the privacy issues, this seems like a great idea. In my experiences, the best “hangout sessions” are the spontaneous ones that had no planning! This app would be great for just that! I think it’s great knowing who is around you then just hanging out!
The privacy concerns certainly come up when I go about considering to use this app. I’m going to be equipped with my smartphone and I am not trying to attract the wrong kind of people who exploit these kind of opportunities, nor do I want people always knowing where I am or what I’m doing. It’s good that you can at least control certain privacy aspects, though. Also the fact that you can meet some new people near you is pretty cool. I just don’t know if I’d actually use this app.
On the one hand this is all a little bit scary that we(who we are and everything we do) can get tracked that easily on the other hand it’s amazing.
Through the internet we’re all interconnectedm and apps/services like this just “connects the dots” and maps out just how connected we all are.
As of now I don’t own a iOS device, so I’ll have to wait until it gets released for Android, before I can try it out.
Also, the integration of software like this on Google Glass will be interesting. Have a UI overlay on “the world” showing information like this must be pretty fun to try out
Of course privacy concerns are the biggest issues here. The creators would have to implement very user-sided privacy settings. Even with that, all your information being on an app where strangers have access to by just walking around? Seems kind of a sketchier Facebook to me. I can’t really say for sure as it’s not out yet, but I would probably not touch that app.
Woah, our technology is getting scary and it is kinda odd that everyone think this is ok and normal in the name of technology. But truth is… this is really dangerous and scary, I’m so glad I don’t use Facebook, hoe terrifying it’d be if any stranger could see my info. What if I had a secret stalker and I was the same girl I used to be years ago… writing updates on everything I do.
Wow that sounds dangerously cool. I mean with all this privacy issue going on just imagine having an app that breaches through that. Its kind of funny how people are obsessed with knowing everything, leave some room for your imagination (and privacy)
I agree.
It’s a little too ‘big brother is watching’ for me. I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business where I am. If I want you to know, I’ll tell you. I think it is a generation thing, but for the life of me I don’t understand why someone would post they are at XYZ – why do I care and why are you telling the world? I see something like this being used more for bad than for good.
I do agree that privacy could be an Issue, but I also agree that it could be easily fixed with a “show as offline” kind of option. That being said, it could great to find people and have some random encounters!
Yes, I agree. A “show as offline” option would be helpful. I think there some be some way that a person could opt out of being included with the SocialRadar app. But at the same time it doesn’t completely resolve the privacy issues, as it’s all dependent upon a person being aware that there is such an app and that without their consent their data is being shared via the app.
I think as time goes on we are going to be facing more and more of these scenarios. Privacy becomes more and more scare, and at the same time, people have lowered their expectations when it comes to privacy. It really seems like a massive cultural and psychosocial shift that we’re experiencing right now.
I would be really worried about privacy. My ex is following me and he would know how to find ways to get my information and know everything I was doing. It would scare me.
Wow, this is Watch Dogs tech right here. I’m not so keen about this though, I mean, we share almost everything online now and our privacy is basically on the gutter so having an app like this kind of makes me feel unsafe especially to the creeps, you don’t want to attract the wrong crowd with this one.
As long as it features contact lists with a clear “on/off switch”, I guess it will be fine.
I mean, like google plus. I need to have the ability to enable broadcasting my location separately for family (probably always active for most), close friends (possibly active), acquaintances, and everyone else.
You should also have an “incognito mode” with easy access. And it better asks at least twice to be disabled…
Now this is cool. Isn’t there a social network that allows you to connect with just people in your neighborhood, too? I cant remember what that is called but it looks fun.
Yes, it’s called “The Bar”!
I wish I could like comments here. You win an entire Internets.
This app could be really useful, when it comes to avoiding certain frenemies. On the other hand, if you see them, they see you. I wonder, though, how this kind of visibility might change the way people live or the way they share. Would you choose Pub A over Pub B because a friend is there? Quite likely. Would advertisers ever find ways to hack the system and somehow convince you that a friend could be at Pub A, when in reality he is at Pub B? Would this introduces more levels of real or new levels of fake?
Nope, as much as this’ll be great to meet up with say, a childhood friend, the main concern here is privacy. Sometimes you just don’t want to meet people and want to go about doing things on your own, and this app kinds spoils it. Stalkers and all that, maybe I’m going a bit overboard but there’re many possibilities for this app, and while it’s great in certain aspects, there are some pretty valid concerns here. Why would you want people to know what you’ve been up to? Seems pretty weird to me, but I’m sure this app will be great for people who love to meet and connect with their friends, especially unexpected ones.
Honestly, this seems like it could be a little stalkerish. Do we really want to know whats going on with random people? Seems like an invasion of privacy.
I do not know about that one. That seems a little stalker like to me. Wanted to know where my friends or people on my social media accounts are. I think I will pass on that one. I can see using something that shows you if an even or a concert or a fair is nearby, that would be something I would use.
This is a step too far for me. Having someone next to you literally looking up info on that person, seems a but too much.
Okay now this is a bit too much now. They provide real time information about the people surrounding you, that sounds really scary and the worst part is that it connects to your Facebook account so if you have some really freaky information written on your Facebook then you’re in trouble.
With all the news of leaked somethings nowadays, the last thing you’ll need is something like this to make matters worse.
This seems like a great app. The only thing that bothers me is the privacy issue. I know there are people, like me, who would want some respect with their privacy. I do not want people knowing where I am at every second of the day.
I don’t know how useful this tool would be for me but I can see where it would benefit others who live in larger cities. Streamlining all of your friends’ info in one place is a good idea and would make things more simple. It can be tiresome to switch between so many different apps all the time.
Whether or not you use this app, privacy concerns do come up, because almost all of us have our profiles at facebook and othrr socialnetworking websites. I don’t think I, for one, would want to live like an open book. But then again, if you don’t want people to intrude into your privacy then don’t post something that you don’t want the workd to see. I guess those people will see what you would have shared at one point of time, and it’s your problem, because you shared it in the first place, isn’t it?
Things like this get really close to the line of acceptable breaches of privacy. Real time information on the others in the vicinity can be quite a scary thing to have available. Something like this could be abused very easily by those wishing to use the service as an information grabber. Due to the fact that it is real time, the service becomes even more dangerous. All of this aside, it seems like a good willed product, but there needs to be safeguards in place.
That’s pretty weird, I could see a lot of security concerns coming up when all you have to do is be near someone to have that information given. What is pretty cool though, is how this information can be used. Maybe some Watch_Dogs style stuff is going on here 😛
This is pretty cool! It makes finding people with the same interests as you much easier!
It’s sad that it isn’t available on Android at the moment but I’m sure a lot of people will use it once it comes to more platforms.
I was also worried about privacy issues but it’s good that it let’s you control certain aspects of your details.
That sounds a lot of fun. The app works hard to analyse our connections and let us know things about them. On the way home, we could figure out if somebody we know have stopped at the supermarket without having to call or text them or even say hi to them at all, provided that they post clues on their social media accounts.
This is actually kinda good and kinda bad. This might make some parents paranoid, and also may make them a bit overbearing on their children regarding on what other people are saying about them. This might also cause some people to either lower their self esteem because nobody’s talking about them, or lower it because everyone’s talking about them in a bad way.
I am not so sure about this. I have heard about a few apps like this that are available, yet never tried them. I just don’t think I like the idea of just anyone out there knowing where I am at, at any given time. To me this just seems to open so many doors for potential things to go wrong. It is like saying “hey, I am not home, go break into my house it’s empty”!
I can’t help but think that this is both a great innovation and a little creepy. Does anybody else feel like this is gonna enable stalkers and make their lives a little bit easier in the creeper department? No? Just a thought I suppose.
Count me out of this, this seems like the perfect invitation to invasion of privacy. I already have problems with social media and I don’t want even more people looking at my profile. I’ve never met anyone on social media that I continued talking to. I just get random comments from people I don’t know and then never hear from them again. I don’t want to actually MEET these people, some are creepy enough online.
This sounds like the perfect app for an stalker 😛 But to be honest it sounds great if you are a naturally social person who likes to be constantly connected with the people of his/her life. I wonder if it also works with strangers? I hope not, because then privacy would be a main concern for me if I ever decide to give this one a try.
Cool idea, perfect for spying on your kids! I’m kidding. Seriously though, this app has the potential to be abused. It’s a great concept, don’t get me wrong, but I’d rather act with a modicum of caution and test its functions one by one, little by little, until I’m convinced it’s safe.
Reading through the comments, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks this app is pretty creepy. I suppose it’s nice that there are at least some privacy measures in place, but I can’t help thinking most people won’t pay attention to that. I agree with the commenter who compared it to Big Brother. If I’m going to have a random encounter, I’d rather have it happen naturally.