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September 14, 2011

Sonar App Adds LinkedIn to List of Sites That Will Tell You When Connections are Nearby

By Oliver VanDervoort, Contributing Writer

While technology has long been billed as a way to make the world smaller, at times it seems to have done the opposite. That is why the Sonar app was created, in order to tell people when their contacts from Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert) or other social networking sites were in the same place as the user. Obviously this app doesn’t come in handy if you are in a small coffee shop and looking up will do the job. It does come in handy if you are in a large lecture or concert hall and you want someone to sit with.



The social media network has never been used by more people, according to a new study. This means that when your friends show up at a certain place there’s a better chance you’ll know about it. Now that LinkedIn (News - Alert) has been added to the app responsible for this service, even more people will benefit. Sonar is the iPhone app that will actually alert you should you be in the same location as one of your Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter, Foursquare or now LinkedIn contacts.

The Sonar app launched in May and with the addition of LinkedIn today, is adding social media sites at a brisk pace. Once the Sonar app tells you your friends are in the vicinity, you can tweet them directly through the app. Sonar’s developers say that since the service launched, more than 60,000 users have tweeted their friends directly through their app. Sonar believes that the number could skyrocket with the addition of LinkedIn. The developers hope that users will lean on the app to help broach uncomfortable introductions at conferences or large meetings and get-togethers. 

Of course, for this app to actually work, your contacts must use a check-in service like Foursquare (News - Alert) or Facebook Places. Facebook Places especially has had a hard time finding a footing in the social media market. According to recent studies, only 17 percent of social network users actually use a check-in service remotely regularly.  While this makes Sonar a rather hit or miss app, even with the new sites being added, it can also come in handy should you get lucky and find someone using the service as well.

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Edited by Jennifer Russell
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