An idea that has sparked my interest when thinking about technology and app development is the idea of communities. There are numerous online communities which revolve around the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common; so that people of similar interests can share opinions, skills, facts, etc. of their niche abilities with others alike. Community apps can also exist in forms of social media platforms with a concentration on a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common; social media platforms can allow users to share social experiences with their followers whether they be local or at a distance.
The idea of a community is quite nostalgic, for British people it can bring about a sense of connecting with your neighbour however nowadays the sense of physical community is non-existent with ‘51 per cent of those with neighbours admit they don’t know their first names’ (http://www.independent.co.uk/property/most-people-don-t-know-their-neighbours-first-names-8878913.html) . With the development of technologies the younger generation tend to socialise more over social media rather than going to a neighbours to socialise ‘the research suggests that younger people are “significantly more isolated” from those they share a street or building with, they are also more likely to have used social networking sites and search engines to find information about their neighbours’ (http://www.independent.co.uk/property/most-people-don-t-know-their-neighbours-first-names-8878913.html) these findings suggest that rather than getting to know your neighbours in person you judge them from their online identity, never getting to know the physical being.
I want to merge these two characteristics together to bring about a modern community which allows neighbours to connect once again through the use of technology. The predominant markets which feel nostalgia about a neighbourly community is with the older generation therefore my target market is those aged 60+ however is available for all ages to use. As discussed in my previous project, loneliness is a rising issue within the elderly and this is an issue I want to address and attempt to aid with the development of this app.
I will go on to review possible influences and market research surrounding this idea…