PingMe, a Mobile App which discovers new Friends for You, launched on iOS App Store

PingMe, a social discovery and mobile social network app has finally hit the iOS App Store. The app seeks to take a new angle on social networking by giving users different ways to connect offline based on shared interests, or in other words “helping you make the friends you didn’t know you had.”

Ping Me helps you make the friends you didn’t know you had

Ping Me helps you make the friends you didn’t know you had

It is currently available for the iPhone and an Android version is coming soon.

When asked about the inspiration for the app, CEO Amar Bhakta asked “What if you’ve moved to a new city and didn’t know anyone? What if there was a way to discover something more in your own neighborhood that you didn’t know about previously and couldn’t rely simply on word of mouth? PingMe gives users that ability to find and discover new experiences as near and as far from them as they would like.”

PingMe works through two mechanisms – The Broadcast and The Ping. The Broadcast is an event created by users which is tagged with the date, time, and interest categories. Once the Broadcast is created and sent out, all other users within a 1 mile radius receive a Ping, which is a notification that an event is taking place nearby that they may be interested in. “It gives you the ability to meetup in a much more mobile, social, and connected way,” said CTO David LaPoint.

PingMe distinguishes itself from other social apps by connecting every user right away when they join the network. “We have built in authentication through Facebook to ensure users are who they are, and are not bots or spam accounts.” User privacy is always a concern in today’s increasingly social and connected world, and ensuring a safe experience is the top priority for the two creators. “This app is about connecting people based on common and shared interest and we want to make sure every experience is safe and welcoming,” David went on to say.

As PingMe’s user base continues to grow, it will expand in multiple cities and eventually globally, thus leading to another series of fundraising to hire more staff. The goal of the two co-founders is to be able to have national and international businesses to use their network for hyper-local advertising and targeting in order to engage users in a personal manner, delivery ads that are personally tailored to the individual experiences of the users in near real-time. “We’re incredibly excited with the potential this app has, and the growth it could potentially achieve. We’re just two scrappy entrepreneurs who want to take the world by storm and give social networking a whole new meaning,” said Amar.