The app world is getting a reality check, thanks to apps like Girls Around Me, Placeme or even Highlight. So far, when it comes to sharing data the benefits still outweigh the momentary gut check when your aunt references a party photo or your friends unexpectedly check you in to a place while you told your boss you were home sick. But in the past month one word has kept popping up to describe the current direction of social apps: creepy. Instead of SoLoMoCo or another dumb acronym, this one is an uh-oh.
The rise of creepy
I first heard someone describing an app as creepy when a friend of mine was referencing Highlight. After some older guy she didn’t know popped up as a connection and started eyeing her up at a bar, she quickly uninstalled it. Then at our Structure:Data conference in March I was sitting with an entrepreneur who dropped the word at least four times in a conversation about how people can use the data his firm is providing, “We have to make sure it doesn’t come across as creepy,” he said again and again.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Startups walk the line between serendipity and creepy — Tech News and Analysis
