Social networking platform "Reality" relaunches

It's harder to navigate than Facebook and more time-consuming than Twitter. Can this app compete?

Published March 31, 2011 8:32PM (EDT)

Reality: a place to make friends, start conversations!
Reality: a place to make friends, start conversations!

Sometimes a concept comes along that is so simple, so ingenious, that you wish you had thought of it yourself. That's not how I feel about Reality, a social networking platform that is pushing a major relaunch in order to compete with the likes of Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter.

If Reality is getting a redesign, it's pretty stark. The website's description is only two paragraphs long:

Find someone. Now find someone else. Talk to them. Give them a mix tape. Cuddle party?

Quickly assemble social networks of real life friends in real life. There's no phones or venture capitalists involved.

Share this new, movable, cross-platform social network.

Um OK? Does it come with an iPhone app? Can it sync up with my other social networking profiles? All that's on the site is a press release and the API specs, which I found totally not useful:

Available methods

hello(name)

          Greet name. Typically required to initiate further interaction.

[whatever you want]([whatever])

 Subsequent communication typically is handled by the two users. It can        carry on in a variety of fashions, but here are a few suggestions to get you started:

* Shared interests

* The weather

* The tech investment bubble — real or imagined?

* Cupcakes

* Liza Minnelli

According to the press release:

Reality's software is still available anywhere, for any platform, at any time. It can be downloaded from anywhere outside and away from the echo chamber of Silicon Valley news sites. Reality is completely compatible with all existing social networks, though Reality as experienced through their interfaces will be significantly degraded.

Wait, a network that gets less impressive the more I try to integrate it with other tech platforms? Snooze. Wake me up when it's time to cash in my Farmville crops on Facebook.


By Drew Grant

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew.

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