| The value of social networks such as Facebook is connecting with your friends to know what you and they have been up to. Most of the time though, these updates are made in reference to something that's already past. Enter Foreca.st , a smart twist on the check-in phenomenon that aims at helping you plan ahead so that you and your friends can meet up in the future. Foreca.st helps you tell your friends where you will be later so that they can assess whether or not they can join you. Check-ins don't quite help you meet up with your friends because they tell your friends where you are presently. Intrigued? Check out what makes Foreca.st an incredible idea. Why Another Check-In App? With Foreca.st , you are revealing places that you plan to be at in the future so your friends can plan ahead and perhaps even join you, while the angle to other check-in apps is to reveal where you are currently , making it too late for friends to actually join you. With Foreca.st , you can also check out where your friends are going to be at later. Foreca.st makes planning meetups with your friends not only fun, but also really easy. How easy? You can simply connect to existing social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook on the iPhone and Android apps, search for places and start making forecasts so that your Foursquare and/or Facebook friends can see your plans. How Does It Work? You first sign in with your Facebook or Foursquare account, and pick a place where you plan to be. You then select the time that you plan to be at the location you specified. Now you can post this forecast, letting your friends know even in other outlets where you plan to go later. You can queue up multiple forecasts for up to two weeks into the future. Then checking-in will be pretty much a simple one-tap affair. After making your forecasts, you can chat to your friends about your plans. For a quick demo of the Foreca.st app, check out the following video. I never got the point of Foursquare and Facebook Places, but I feel strongly about Foreca.st because it makes checking in an actual social event, so you can plan ahead and have your friends join you, instead of just blasting your whereabouts without the possibility of having your friends share the event experience with you. With its focus, Foreca.st is definitely a well thought-out app that closes the gap between knowing where your friends are and actually planning meetups with them. Do you love the concept of Foreca.st? You can start downloading the official app for either iOS or Android , upvoting Foreca.st in Y Combinator Hacker News (which I think you should because you would be supporting a great student startup) or just checking out Foreca.st's FAQ page for more information. Do you love the idea of checking in to places? Check out how to become the mayor of your favorite venue in Foursquare, how to check into Foursquare events , these 5 location-based alternatives to Foursquare (including Google Latitude Leaderboards ), and how to check in to multiple location-tracking apps . Have you got something to say about Foreca.st? Broadcast your thoughts in the comments section below. |
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