“[katogoaward]”

Are you spending too much time looking at what your friends are posting on Instagram and Facebook and not enough time hanging out with each other IRL? The founders of Ketchuppp think so. And their answer to this problem is, of course, another app that’s designed to help you meet your buddies when you happen to be near enough to do so. In other words: a proximity-based social networking app. Or a social-mobile-local app if you prefer.

It’s not an app that’s about broadcasting your location to all and sundry. Or meeting up with random strangers who share your passion for Vampire Weekend gigs and happen to be nearby (a la Circle). Or for meeting friends of friends with mutual interests — giving it a narrower focus than U.S. rival Highlight. Or an app for meeting potential business leads over a networking lunch (like Let’s Lunch).

Ketchuppp wants to help you meet up with the people you actually like spending time with on a regular basis (or did before social media ate your social life) — and do so in person, not digitally (so it’s not Path either). It sets that bar at people you have in your phone’s contacts book.

This European Highlight rival has been in the works since January – although its Dutch founders say they came up with the idea in June last year. The iOS and Android apps were launched in August 2013, backed by €300,000 in self-funding. The funding is coming in part from a social media consulting and concept development company the founders also own, called So-Me Consulting, and from another company, DayLike, involved in the project – as the developer.

How does Ketchuppp help you engineer quality ‘hanging with yo homies’ time? It does that by running GPS tracking in the background, and pinging you when a friend is nearby — so you can suggest meeting for a quickie catch-up (or “ketch up” — that won’t get old real quick at all).

“The idea of Ketchuppp is to be a ‘re-active’ app. You don’t have to look for unexpected encounters yourself. Ketchuppp runs in the background and will send you a notification when a friend is nearby. This is programmed in such a way that there is very minimal battery drain. This was always one of the weak spots of these kind of applications,” it says.

“What makes Ketchuppp different from all other social platforms is that we don’t make a connection to any social media platforms at all. Ketchuppp only facilitates encounters with the people from the contact list of your mobile device,” it adds.

That means you can sign up with your email if you like, rather than being forced to drag all your Facebook/social media ‘friendship’ baggage with you. The ubiquitous smartphone’s address book has become a neat shortcut for app makers – providing an alternative, ready-made per user contacts network that does not rely on tapping into the social media establishment.

Privacy is another focus. The app crucially does not disclose its users’ actual location to anyone — friends or frienemies. ”It only informs you when someone is around. So it is not possible to be surprised by someone who found your exact location on a map. (Like find my friends from Apple.) We respect the privacy of the individual user, both people have to agree on a meeting,” it notes.

How nearby a friend needs to be to trigger a notification can be determined by a distance setting within the app. The app also includes three levels of usage so you can broadcast to your buddies or lurk and cherry-pick the friends you want to see.

The three visibility settings are: online, meaning you are visibly using the app and your location will be sent out if a friend passes nearby; hidden, which means you don’t appear as online and your location won’t ping out but you can still see friends’ locations if they pass nearby; and offline, which means not visible, with no pings being sent or received. That’s basically the same as quitting the app except the in-app offline mode is time-limited, so you’ll pop back online again once offline mode expires.

Online is the default mode, and if you opt to go hidden or offline the time limit on your privacy can be set to between two and 72 hours (specifically you get: 2, 4, 8, 24 or 72 hour options).

If you want more control than that, Ketchuppp lets you block certain people who you never want to have spontaneous catch ups with. If that’s the case you should probably just delete them from your phonebook. (Albeit it does suggest this setting is intended to manage your interactions with family members. You can, after all, choose your friends.)

Aside from notifying you when someone you know and want to hang out with is nearby, the app lets you set a status message that’s visible to your friends — to provide a little context around your current mood, say.

This is similar to some of the features offered by certain mobile messaging apps. However Ketchuppp is very feature-light in comparison – intentionally so, since it’s clearly keen to minimise time spent in-app. Its focus is on externalising social networking and then monetising the actual socialising that results.

“We know the benefits of social media, but we also see the weak spots of it. People are getting addicted and stressed, and don’t know how to handle it. That’s why we created our app. So that people are not only posting on social media about a great day at home, but more importantly, sharing it with their real friends in real life,” it says.

On the monetising front, the app pulls local businesses into the mix – suggesting a list of nearby cafes and restaurants where your catch up can take place. Which further explains its external focus. Ultimately this app wants you to pull out your wallet — and buy a drink or two.

Source: Techcrunch