Fast Society: The App That Helps You Find Friends (Literally)

Ever found yourself at a crowded concert or sporting event with a group of friends -- and everyone has wandered off in their own directions? Even with cell phones, trying to call or text everybody one by one in hopes of finding a meeting place is tricky. That's where Fast Society comes in.

Fast Society, a free iPhone app launched this fall, offers group texting, instant conference calls and location sharing, to help groups of friends and even business associates stay in touch at large events like concerts, festivals and trade shows. The app takes the frustration out of staying connected with a group by lumping contacts into instant, short-term teams for streamlined group text messaging and one-touch conference calling.

Fast Society was founded in January 2010 by Matthew Rosenberg, Andy Thompson and Michael Constantiner. Rosenberg previously worked on advertising projects for Yahoo and MTV. Thompson, responsible for design and development, was lead designer and new media coordinator for Live Nation as well as brand manager for Red Bull Energy Drink. Constantiner, head of operations, worked at HSBC in mortgage trading as well as with Creative Artist Agency, specializing in business development and digital media. Prior to creating this app, serial entrepreneurs Thompson and Rosenberg started edopter, a social trend tracking engine.

Rosenberg says their inspiration came from a frustrating experience at a concert in New York. "We're big concert people, and when we would go to concerts, the hardest part was communicating with our friends," he says. "One person would be late, and it would be so hard to coordinate the night. We're pretty social people, so getting everyone together was one of the biggest pain points in our lives. We were at a show for the band Bloc Party, and we came up with the idea for the app and invented it on the spot."

The Fast Society app makes group communication efficient by allowing its users to create a team directly from their phone's contacts or by manually entering phone numbers. While the app is currently only available for the iPhone, group members can have use phone and any carrier, and users can create groups by accessing the Fast Society site on their phones. Users download the app, which then links directly to the phone and can access all friends and contacts. Teams and conversations can be set for times ranging from three hours to three days. Once the team is live, all members can chat via group text message or conference call using a designated number. It is also a location-based service, allowing them to share their individual locations with the team for easier tracking when members get separated.

Rosenberg says the idea of "short-term" relationships with members of specific groups was a huge impetus for the creation of Fast Society. "We're big believers that temporary groups are better than long-term groups," he says. "They are how people interact. When you go out with friends or connect with business associates, you're probably only going to be with that exact group of people once. Permanent groups clog up your phone book." He also feels that when people keep conference groups permanently on their phones, it can tempt group members to abuse the system and over-communicate beyond the event or activity.

While Fast Society started as a purely social app, its founders are testing its business applications. "We're talking about concerts and social settings now, but we've seen trade shows as a big opportunity," Rosenberg says. "You're bringing people to a trade show for a set amount of time. And everyone has text messaging, so everyone can use it, regardless of which type of phone is being used." The entrepreneurs have conducted some test groups with companies to see its practical applications in the professional realm. Recently, they tested a 33-person employee/supervisor group attending an air show for three days. Using Fast Society, supervisors were able to put all their employees into a team using their mobile devices and report to each other without having to physically stay together.

Although the app has gained traction so far, Rosenberg is mindful of the marketing and delivery challenges. "It's always hard at the beginning," he says. "You have to build up the buzz. With what we're working on, it's such a competitive space that it's hard to get through the noise and really do something people care about." Still, he thinks the focus on temporary groups sets him apart from other social media companies. "What we're doing with temporary groups is unique. Group text messaging and group messaging has been around for 10 years, but no one has been able to do it in a way that worked. Everyone has had to walk away from it. We're the first to bring conference calling and the short-term aspect together. It's something people don't realize they want. We're trying to get people to look at short-term messaging in a new and elegant way."

Rosenberg and his team have high hopes for Fast Society's future. "We see rapid, explosive growth and real expansion into small businesses," he says. "We're passionate about technology and are happy that what we've built for ourselves is filling a real need for people."