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Social media sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter allow us to keep in touch with people around the globe. But what happens when you want to actually see people, as in face-to-face?
A new site called uberlife hopes to solve that dilemma for you by connecting people in the real world. Whether you’re looking to find out where the hottest Happy Hour is, or you’re at a convention and want to find out where people are meeting, uberlife can lead the way.
Uberlife is based in London with employees across the globe. I recently spoke with its CEO, Sanchita Saha, about their site and plans for the future. “Uberlife is our new location-based, real world socializing community to help people find friends and like-minded people to hang out with offline, as frequently and spontaneously as they do online.”
“Wherever you go, you can gather friends and friends of friends using uberlife wherever you want to hang out. You can go for a drink, go for coffee, go shopping, go to a concert. Whenever you want company, uberlife is the place to search for friends to hang out with,” explains Saha.
Uberlife has a gaming element to identify and reward the social Connectors in a city. The site gives a member a point for being a Connector, that means setting up a hangout where at least two people gather. The idea is for a business, such as a restaurant or pub, to give discounts to uberlife Connectors to encourage hangouts to be organized there.
Uberlife is planning to have local and global leader boards of Connectors so you can see who the Connectors are in your area and how they rank globally.
According to Saha, the most popular type of hangout so far has been concerts, followed by drinks after work. The third biggest type of hangout is at festivals and conventions, people wanting to get together and connect. “People are coming from all over the world and already have a like-minded element so it’s a great opportunity to meet other people.” About half the hangouts are spontaneous and the other half are planned up to a week ahead of time.
Uberlife is free to join but is invitation-only. To sign up with the site, you need to connect your Facebook or Twitter accounts and wait for an invitation to join. You can also download the iPhone app to see if there is a hangout near you. Showing up to a hangout and checking in with the app earns you a membership in uberlife. You can also join uberlife by getting an invitation to join from a current member. Each member can invite up to five other people.
The uberlife iPhone app has been out in beta, but the full-fledged app was launched this week and allows you to search for a hangout, check in, set up a hangout, post about a hangout and take pictures at hangouts for posting on the uberlife website. You can also search by #tags if you want to find a hangout with a special interest. (Owners of other types of smartphones can visit the mobile site for uberlife.)
Hangouts are open to all other uberlife members, there’s no option for private hangouts. The idea is to connect with others and meet new people. “When a hangout is posted on Facebook or Twitter, the prefix is always ‘Come join,'” says Saha. “The more the merrier.”
Saha says the company is mindful of safety concerns. To restrict access, uberlife is invitation-only. A member can’t follow another uberlife member unless he shows up at a hangout and meets the person. There is no people search feature, you must show up at a hangout to see who is there.
If you’re visiting London, Uberlife has a treasure trove of hangouts for you. Other cities in Europe, New York and San Francisco also have hangouts listed. The site is global and has had hangouts organized in places such as Paris, Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore, South Africa, Berlin, San Francisco and New York. “You can travel wherever you want and know that you can have a community of people to hang out with, to welcome you,” says Saha.
If you’re headed to the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, be sure to stop by the uberlife booth and say “hi”. Also check for uberlife hangouts in the Austin area during the festival as plenty of hangouts are already posted.
Uberlife is quickly expanding into new cities and is looking for people to be Ambassadors, using the app and reaching out to others to get the site established. “If you’re new to a city, being an Ambassador is a great way to meet people,” says Saha. “You don’t have to introduce yourself. When people show up to a hangout, they already know who you are.”
If you want to be one of the first Connectors to start an uberlife hangout in your city, contact uberlife at [email protected] and offer to be an Ambassador.
Do you like the idea of connecting with people in real life? Would you like to meet new friends through uberlife? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Carolyn is currently enjoying some time in the real world, away from the Internet, and will return to post comments on Tuesday, March 13.
The uberlife iPhone app has been out in beta, but the full-fledged app launched this week and allows you to search for a hangout, check in, set up a hangout, post about a hangout and take pictures at hangouts for posting on the uberlife website. You can also search by #tags if you want to find a hangout with a special interest. (Owners of other types of smartphones can visit the mobile site for uberlife.)
The idea is innovative and has potential. I am just not sure how ready I am for this! I mean, yes, I love meeting people in real life; but not through websites as for now; or maybe I still have to understand the whole idea behind how this works out. Is it available world over or restricted to cities as for now?
Hi Hajra, Yes, uberlife is available around the world. Wherever someone wants to set up a hangout using uberlife, they can. That’s one of the exciting features of this service. Wherever you want to connect with people, you can use uberlife. If you want to meet people, uberlife can be a very handy site no matter where you are! 🙂
Sounds really interesting!
Uberlife does sound like a great place to connect and interact with more kind of like minded people. And I love the fact that you can meet up and interact with the real kind of people even when you don’t know each other!
I think it’s a great way to connect with people, and if you are a extrovert and love socializing, this would be the best thing to get into!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Harleena, Great point, uberlife makes it easy to meet people in the real world. You can find people who you have things in common with, not an easy feat these days.
I think both introverts and extroverts could benefit from this site. If you’re a bit shy, uberlife could make it easier for you to meet others. You may be hesitant to start a hangout, but you could show up to one and meet people there. 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I can see all these groups in London being made up of obnoxious yuppies! I’ve just bought a new laptop and spent half the day trying to get Chrome working right. My hard drive packed up on my other one! Today’s blog was about the difference between middle class and working class. I do get angry when the likes of the BBC ignore people in the UK just because they have a working class accent or a less than desirable post code! I had lots of page views on Sunday about 2 weeks ago and they were mostly local people. I’ve tried to write something they will identify with again! My readers seem to get more international though, I haven’t even heard of some of the countries. My new website needs a couple more plugins I think to improve the cache and minor things. I’m getting there though!
Hi Mike, Lol, you actually bring up one of the positive features of uberlife. You can specify the type of person you’d like to meet in your hangout. For example, you can specify you want to meet like-minded people, such as fellow bloggers who are photographers and love to live frugally. You may want to set up that hangout in a larger city, such as London, to increase your chances of meeting others like you.
I’m so glad you’re making progress with your website, Mike. Be sure to keep us posted! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
Uberlife sounds awesome, but to me, it seems that it has a huge potential for people looking for dates (single women and single men). And like you said, it’s awesome if you’re in a city by yourself looking to do something with like-minded people. If I traveled to New York and was all by myself, I would love to find some people to hook up with via social media 🙂
Hi Jens, I agree, uberlife would be fantastic for single people looking to meet others, but I also see a business aspect to the site. If you’re at a convention and want to gather with others, uberlife could be a great way to discover where others are meeting. You might make some valuable business connections using this site. 🙂
That’s true. I need to get the business mindset. I’m terrible at networking 🙂
Jens, I respectfully and vehemently disagree. You are great at networking, my friend. 🙂
Maybe I can be the ‘Lakeland’ guy, huh? I like to meet people…….
See you when you get back.
Hi Bill, You ARE the Lakeland guy. You don’t need a site to award that honor to you. But uberlife could help others discover the awesomeness that is Bill Dorman. 😀
Well that’s an interesting idea, something kind of similar to MeetUp’s without having to create a group, pay for the membership and hope people want to join. I think this one would probably go over quite well.
Hope you’re having a great time Carolyn!!! 🙂
Hi Adrienne, Yes, uberlife has some similarities to Meetup but is more spontaneous. I’m glad you see the value in this site. I was very excited to share this site with my readers when I learned about it. 🙂
Carolyn, aloha. Hope you are enjoying your weekend away. It seems to be pretty quiet everywhere this weekend.
have to say that Uberlife doesn’t appeal to me at all. My concern would be the weirdos that it would attract. Perhaps I am not adventurous enough.
In any event, it will be interesting to follow what ahppens with Uberlife. Aloha. Janet
Hi Janet, The idea of the site being invitation only is supposed to help weed out the weirdos. I imagine you can meet weirdos wherever you go, but with uberlife you could specify the types of people you want to attend your hangout. 🙂
The idea sounds great. Hope they’ll organize hangouts in the southern parts of India, so that I can join. 🙂
Hi Anees, The CEO of uberlife, Saha, informed me that they have had hangouts in Mumbai already. If you want to be an Ambassador and start hangouts in your hometown, contact uberlife and let them know. I’m sure they’d be happy to have you on board! 🙂
I’m pretty antisocial – I don’t think I would use this service. It kinda sounds like an online ‘dating’ service for people looking to extend their social network. I’ll be curious to see if this business model gets any traction in the long term.
Though I’d join Bill’s group in Lakeland and meet up with him 🙂
Hi Ruth, Yes, I have a strong feeling that once Bill discovers uberlife that he won’t meet with us unless it’s through an uberlife hangout. 😉
Hi Carolyn
thank you for the very interesting post i will do my best to give it a try
Hi Andrew, I hope you enjoy your hangouts with uberlife. Please let us know how they work out for you. 🙂
Hi Andrew, I hope you enjoy your hangouts with uberlife. Please let us know how they work out for you. 🙂
Thank you. I don’t feel that I’m good at it… but I’m doing my best to learn what to do 🙂
I think you’re a natural, Jens. 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
Social networking sites have seen a decline in face to face meetings and human interaction so I think people most definitely could do with an application like this to awaken a more personal interaction as opposed to constantly being on their laptops with no chance of social interactions.
Thanks,
Daniel
Hi Daniel, I couldn’t agree with you more. Right before I heard from uberlife, a Wonder of Tech reader in his 20’s told me how difficult it is these days to meet someone. He said people are plugged into their headphones or reading an ebook and he can’t strike up a conversation asking about the book because he can’t see what it is. There’s a real danger that tech can cut people off from the real world. Uberlife is trying to reverse that trend by having people meet up in real life. Let us know if you give it a try, Daniel! 🙂