There have been many instances of applications trying to explore the local context of the audience with the social integration. Foursquare undoubtedly reigns supreme with more than 20 Million using it globally. But somehow, the application has failed to tap into the Indian Market with the same penetration levels reached as in the United States. A few days back I heard about one Indian start up on the similar lines going global. MojoStreet is a location/social application which promises seamless integration with your social networks. How well does it do that? Lets find out:
The application is available on all the major smartphone platforms you can ask for which helps them to get a friction-less existence between competitive mobile operating systems. You can integrate your profile with Facebook or Twitter and signing up for the app is a breeze.
User Interface
Having reviewed similar concept based apps like DelightCircle and Nukkad which explored the concept of SoLoMO, I can safely say this application has really caught my eye in terms of its simplicity and design. It might be my own personal choice, but the design is simple and can be navigated by a novice pretty easily. The visuals are pleasing to the eye and expands the user experience to check the application horizon in detail. The application on the start will always keep asking you to enable your GPS so make sure you do it for the application to locate your position accurately. However, if you are too worried to save your battery life all the time, Google’s Location Service is accurate enough for the app.
The application is divided into three sections:
Nearby tab is the soul of the application and lets you discover places closer to your location. So if you want to ‘Grab a Meal’ or even go out with your Friends to a lounge, the application will give you the places to be and accurately so. The places listed here have a description and tips by users who have been there listed with them, which helps us categorize and make decisions as to which place to go in time crunch situation (which is always is the case with me!). You can like the place and share the same with your friends on Facebook and Twitter to let them know or share (or even flaunt) the place you are going to. The Map feature is useful to guide you through the exact location from your point which acts as a kind of DIY for the user. The application has also recently added ‘Filter’ option to let you filter out places within a list of places by your own preferences , say distance or popular with your own friends. This is a pretty cool feature (something on the lines of Zomato App) which I utilise a lot as it means less stress to go through a whole bunch of places and filtering out only the stuff I usually go for.
The Offers and Announcements at the bottom could have been explored more. I could not find much offers to excite me. The offers can be customized according to user behavior. So if I frequently checkin to Coffee Shops more, the app can show me offers related to CCD more rather than education training which it is showing right now. (I am already an Engineer, so please no more studies!). Brands pertaining to this application can try customized targeting to reach their core audience based on the check-in data.
The Friends Tab lets your social feed come in to your application. So if your Facebook friends checkin through Facebook (or even through Foursquare on Facebook) you can get the feed right on your mobile. This is a cool feature to have with a user integrating his social activities within the application and driving conversations through the app itself (something which other location based applications lacked). The ‘Ask a Friend’ feature lets you do what the name says. You can ask your friend about a place he/she has visited before and let their thoughts influence your decisions. In each case you know friends’ recommendations are more likely to be followed than strangers! The application clearly captures that.
The ‘Me’ section is well basically about what you have done on the app, Check-ins, Mojo $ (The more you check in, the more Mojo$’s you earn) and all fancy stuff like that.
How good is Mojostreet?
With plans of MojoStreet going global, this is one application which I can safely say has those international standards of how a complete SoLoMo application should be. Be it the comprehensive list of places around you, or the easy usability to check-in and converse, the application surely has what it takes to be a great application. Business optimization for brands can be one thing this application can aim for with brands targeting users via the application, as and when they are near the brand outlet with compelling offers to make them visit them. But keeping the business perspective aside, I would say you can surely give this application a Mojo (read chance!)
You can download the app on Google Play here. And those who are still living in a pre-smartphone era can access the desktop application from their website.
So how do you like the Indian Foursquare? Let me know your thoughts.