New Social Discovery App Banjo Lets You See What Is Happening Nearby
Banjo, a company that helps users of social networking services to find what matters most to them, has launched a new social discovery app that helps you explore social and local conversations to find the most relevant updates that are happening nearby and connect with those around you.
The app claims to allow social exploration no matter where you are located, no matter which social network you use and without having to make a status update or check-in. It’s important to note that Banjo is not a location-based service itself — it essentially aggregates location-based information to help you discover what is happening nearby.
Banjo harnesses publicly available local and social data and then lets you filter this based on your location, interests and friends. For instance, let’s say that you are deciding on a restaurant to choose and have not posted a tweet or status update about your dilemma. A friend of yours then posts a geo-tagged tweet from the restaurant down the street. Banjo lets you quickly discover where that friend is so that you can join them.
You do not necessarily need to be close to other users to see their updates and you do not necessarily have to be friends with them. Even if no-one nearby is posting updates to their social networks, Banjo lists the locations of the people closest to you who are updating their networks — whether those people are 3, 30 or 3,000 miles away. This means that you will always be able to find someone on Banjo with whom you can connect.
You can also browse to any location to find out what’s happening there. So if you’re heading on a trip somewhere soon, you will be able to find out what is happening in that place through Banjo to help you with your pre-trip research.
Banjo is just the latest app to harness location-based data from services such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places to stimulate social connections. Other apps such as Domo and Sonar have similar features, but it is Banjo’s “elastic” capability — to let you see the people closest to you, no matter where they are — that gives it a unique selling point.
You can try out Banjo for yourself now by downloading it for your iPhone or Android device.
Banjo has been very easy to use for me, and helped me find a store in an area I wasn’t familiar with in SF!
Banjo has been very easy to use for me, and helped me find a store in an area I wasn’t familiar with in SF!
It has so much to offer and is so easy to use. Now you don’t have to jump around from one app to the other to update it, you can do it all on Banjo. The map is great for seeing where people are at, even if you don’t really know them. I’ve discovered a few new places I plan on checking out, all thanks to this app!
I have been using Banjo to leave updates for my facebook, twitter and other sites. So glad I can do it all in one place! Suuuuper easy.
I have been using Banjo to leave updates for my facebook, twitter, and other sites. So glad I can log in from one place, suuuuper easy!
definitely spreading the word about this app, it is so helpful with finding places unfamiliar!