Being the king of social, I usually give new social apps a spin just to see what their about. I’m especially a fan of location based social networking. BrightKite, Loopt, Gowalla. I tried all of them before Foursquare became the de facto check-in app (I don’t count Facebook. Ever). Almost every time I used a new social app I made a discovery. Good or bad, the apps didn’t have much action here in my relatively small county. Even now, there are only a handful of active Swarm (nee Facebook) users in my area.
Now, dating apps are a different story. Being the inquisitive type, I have given them test drives too. Even made a few friends. Plenty of Fish and OK Cupid added geo-location as they matured. Throw in the newer apps (Blendr, Grindr, Tinder, and Whiplr) which were always geo-based and you have loads of geo-dating apps. While testing these out I found scores of local users, usually across networks.
Honestly, I didn’t identify the French app Happn as a dating app at first. Of course, I always say EVERY social app and network is a dating app (usually when people say “Why did I see you on Plenty Of Fish?”) if you approach it with that in mind. The idea behind Happn is to alert you to other users you have crossed paths with or “happened upon”. The app will give you notices when you crossed paths with other users. If you’re interested, you can “like” them. Mutual matches can then have long walks in the park, hook up, etc. For more about the app click over to this article at Marie Claire: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/suzannah-ramsdale/547205/happn-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-newest-dating-app-on-the-scene.html
Now for the results of my test drive. In just over two weeks, I have not had a single ping. Not a single ping. I have nothing to go on, so my this app scores a big round ZERO. I was really looking forward to stalking interesting people, but I will have to use my current social-fu for that purpose. My social toolbox has no room Happn.
Marking The Days 