Today, I learned about a new corner of the media world – antisocial media. Cloak, a new app dubbing itself as “antisocial media,” was created specifically to help you avoid contacts from your online social media accounts in real life.
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| Photo provided by Washington Post |
Cloak helps you assemble a list of enemies through Instagram and Foursquare, and tracks their locations in order to help you avoid them. You can even specify how close you’re willing to come to them before the app starts to send push notifications to alert you.
While Cloak could potentially be the start of a new genre of apps, it seems to be more of a novelty than anything else. The reliability and timeliness of check-ins combined with the chances that you’re actually connected with people you’re trying to avoid makes the app largely useless.
Aside from the low usability of the app, it is representative of a new trend in social media: secretiveness. Newly popular apps like Snapchat and Secret are helping users cover up their footprints and operate in a more anonymous fashion. Cloak seems to be an attempt to translate the ability to go low-profile into real life.
As a side note, it would be wildly interesting to see how apps, such as Cloak, could collaborate with Google Glass to create useful tools for not only everyday encounters (or the lack thereof), but also more professional reconnaissance and espionage for military and government use.
Read the article by Jennifer Van Grove at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57620574-93/use-cloak-to-avoid-social-network-frenemies-in-real-life/
Read the other article at BBC.com: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25554192
This is truly the app I have been waiting for. I hate those awkward meeting with people that you are not fond of. Also it could be used to find people if you really wanted to. The only way that you would be somewhat screwed is if they do not tag their location.
ReplyDeleteThis almost seems like some sort of gadget you'd see James Bond use. But in all seriousness, I can see this becoming a very useful tool. Not only can you avoid those run ins will old high school classmates that think you magically became friends after you graduated, but I can also see it being twisted into a more social media. You could potentially tag your real friends to help you find where they are and where to meet them for get togethers, parties, etc.
ReplyDeleteInteresting app! I believe this will rise and this app will become more popular. This technology is becoming more and more awesome!!!
ReplyDelete