I've installed the free Color app on my iPhone 3gs but so far I haven't waded into the crowd, shot some pics and seen what others on the same street corner are shooting. That's the idea of this new smartphone-based social tool - you share real space with others and you get to see what they find interesting in that space. Maybe you actually meet. Maybe you don't. But the virtual conversation through what people record as digi-photos or videos could be just as engaging as interacting through text on Twitter and Facebook. Of course TW and FB also thrive on the sharing of visual media, but the added element of proximity and the intrigue of seeing the same location in realtime through the eyes of strangers could be very attractive and habit forming. The color.com homepage describes the experience in this way:
Take pictures together.
Find someone. Party. Play date. Lunch? Simultaneously use multiple iPhones and Androids to capture photos, videos, and conversations into a group album. There's no attaching, uploading, or friending to do.
Share together in a new, moving social network. Just look around.
From what I know, there is no other platform or app that does just what Color does. Granted, it has just been released. It probably has bugs. It's probably not what it will evolve to be once a critical mass of users has put it through its paces (see Facebook and Twitter for examples of rapid post-launch scrambling and adaptive development) but it holds promise of being a social game changer. I'm hoping that others will begin experimenting and I'll hear reviews and reports from the field - at events, gatherings or busy intersections - of Coloring in action. Impromptu collaboration can be big fun.