Location-Based Chatting With Ding Dong

Ding Dong is a new location-based app that enables its users to set up private communication based on their current location.

To some extent the app is comparable to Foursquare, Grindr and Tinder as it takes location as a basis for communication. However, Ding Dong  is not about dating or sharing, but about setting up small conversations with friends. It makes sharing your location fun and is hilariously easy to use, according to TechCrunch:

“You open the app, take a picture and select up to five people to send it to. It then puts you and that picture on a map. When your friends respond either with an emoticon around your photo or a Ding Dong photo of their own, it draws a think line between the two of you. It thus makes sharing your location more intimate. If you want to take the conversation into a chat you can open up the messaging feature.”

Although we’re getting increasingly mobile, location seems to become more important at the same time. Which places you visit says a lot about what you do and who you are, and that seems to be worth sharing for many people. Whereas Foursquare was mainly about showing off to your network of digital friends, Ding Dong is about private communication and informing close friends. Nowadays you can share information with 1000s of people, but in the end there are only a few you really care about. Ding Dong is about sharing experiences with those few, says co-founder Onno Faber.

Taking this to another level, the concept can also be used within an interest group or professional circle. What about skaters sharing the best skating locations, or fishermen telling each other about the best fishing grounds? Also for real estate agents it could be a good way to inform the office or clients instantly about places they come across.