TechRound recently caught up with DJ Newman, a 44yr old father of one with a background in out-of-home media sales and operations, working with (or for) the likes the EMAP, Play.com, Maritime Group, Blockbuster Home Entertainment and South Eastern Trains. He created a couple of ambient media start-ups in his 20’s and 30’s but, whilst these were reasonably successful, they were non-technical so, as a solo founder, creating Socially has been his most recent challenge.
What is Socially?
Socially is a free ‘connection’ app that enables anyone living and working across London to widen their social networks by posting, or responding to, 1-2-1 meet-up events for friendship, dating or active pursuits/sports that are happening over the next 7 days.
Why Did You Start It?
Personal experience really. I’d moved from Kent to London after a break-up and I didn’t know anyone in the area. My good friends were all starting families and my social life had taken a hit. With a busy 9-5, I just didn’t have a lot of free time to meet new people – whether to grab a beer after work, play the sports I loved or to arrange any dates.
I tried dating apps but the process is very time consuming and it can take an age to actually meet anyone believe it or not. Friend-finding apps just seemed too grubby, with low-grade ads and lots of flesh on show.
I created Socially as a much more contemporary, convenient and smarter way for busy people to meet others for the things they want to do, but without all the time, hassle and stress that typically goes in to meeting new people online.
How Does it Help With Meeting New People?
The majority of people sign up to dating or friend-finding platforms to meet others ‘in real life’, not to have ongoing ‘e-lationships’ or pen pals. However, these platforms aren’t optimised for meet-ups. You have to go through this seemingly endless process of profile trawling, swiping and messaging which can honestly make you lose the will to live and obviously this isn’t very effective if you want to meet someone quickly or if you’re at a loose end.
With Socially, the whole process is fast-tracked straight to the meet-up which puts the fun and excitement back in to meeting new people, which is what it should all be about, it shouldn’t be a chore.
Who is Socially for?
Busy professionals, adventure seekers, people that are new to an area and want to meet people quickly, sports enthusiasts, new mums and dads, singles and non-singles – essentially anyone living and working across London that wants to widen their social networks quickly, easily and safely.
Is Socially like Tinder?
Well, Socially has a dating stream so, in that sense, it does share some Tinder DNA but our functionality and objectives are very different.
Socially has no profile-trawling, swiping or messaging to slow or dull the process, our profiles are much more comprehensive (meaning that compatibility can be more easily determined which should result in much more successful dates and experiences), Socially is optimised specifically for meet-ups which Tinder isn’t and lastly, all of our users are ID-checked prior to using the app so everyone can be confident that the person they’re meeting is who they claim to be – I don’t think Tinder can say that!
Where Can We Find You?
We are taking pre-registrations now at www.socially-app.com. Simply leave your first name and email address and we’ll keep you informed of all launch news, updates and offers.
We aim to launch the app later this year once we hit a minimum number of pre-registrations across London.
