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The team behind Spott Messenger wants you to tap into a part of your social network that you never knew was missing. Spott Messenger, rather than promoting interaction with the same people who users interact with every day, utilizes location as a common thread to connect its users to new people and places.
“Currently the strategy of most apps is to build your network based on already established friendships,” said co-founder Ben Weston. “I believe you can get stuck in a loop of only communicating and interacting with your friends because they are only a tap away.”
The mobile application uses location-based technology to provide a safe and engaging environment where users can send messages to places on a map, called “spotts,” to exchange information with other users. These interactions include asking questions, notifying others of events and news, or simply connecting with someone who may be at a place close to you.
Essentially, the app provides the ability to send a message to a location, rather than to someone in your contact list.
“Where we really shine is providing access to information and answers that you may not be able to get from your friends,” said Mike Rose, CEO and co-founder of Spott Messenger.
By allowing the creation of spotts at locations both near and far, the app provides a new platform that can easily expand your traditional social network. Users can confidently interact with new people while knowing their current location will never be shared or made public without their permission.
The utilization of location to bring people together has significantly increased the popularity of mobile applications like Spott Messenger.
Catherine Cook, co-founder and senior vice president of brand strategy at MeetMe, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company behind several mobile and online applications, attributes this trend to people having a “need for togetherness and new friendships, and mobile apps are the easiest and most efficient way to connect.”
The latest release of the app, which includes a complete redesign for iOS7, allows users to follow spotts they are interested in and utilize the news feed feature to receive updates on spotts closest to them. The team said they hope this new update, along with an expansion to Andriod phones planned in the coming months, will encourage growth in the number of daily active users on the app.
“We are a community app and we really utilize that community when we need opinions and ideas for future features and tweaks,” Weston said.
Based on feedback gathered from users over the past two years, Chicagoans can also expect to see an introduction of local and national news content to the app in future releases as well.
Introducing a newspaper-type feature to the app will result in a “hybrid between articles, existing content and any user-generated content,” Rose said. “It’s taking the newsfeed we have now and serving it up in a more curated manner.”
The ability to discover spotts that are relevant and meaningful while engaging with new people is what makes this app so different from other social applications: “Spott Messenger uses social networking to its full potential,” Rose said. “Really it’s a better way to find what’s important to you.”
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