Between Discovery And Collaboration, ‘IamHere’ Bridges The Gap Between The Digital And Physical World

Traditionally discovery of products and services has been word of mouth, where we would look for recommendations from family members, friends, or neighbours. This discovery process leapfrogged with the advent of the internet. Recommendations from people we knew and trusted were replaced by algorithms and the companies that wrote those algorithms. We then reached a point where this machine-driven discovery was overwhelmed by trust issues, which gave birth to the influencer economy. They weren’t always our family, friends, or neighbours but added a human touch to the recommendations.

While the discovery landscape was changing, a similar shift was happening in the collaboration arena too. Weekend meetups, family get-togethers and making friends got replaced by social media.

While all of these just became a click away irrespective of distance, a new phenomenon started emerging despite the connectedness, urban isolation. Technology accelerated the pace of connection yet isolated us from those close to us. How do we then strike a balance? Do we abandon technology, or do we stay glued to our screens? Can we have a platform that brings together people for a hobby, business and social causes in the digital world and enables them to meet in person - in their neighbourhoods, in their communities?

Thus emerged IamHere, a platform that bridges the virtual internet world with the real physical world. IamHere digitizes neighbourhoods and communities and enables real connections with people near us.

The foremost question when we meet new people is, what do we have in common? IamHere goes about solving this through Avatars, where users can update their profile with hobbies, interests & professions. Users can then discover each other on the map, connect in their vicinity and collaborate in their communities.

Once you discover someone, the connection is just a simple message away. If you are hesitant to ping someone, you can post on the wall and allow people to respond to you. While chats and posts enable collaboration, the IamHere app has covered you on privacy as well. The concept of Avatars adds a natural layer of security, and every step of the journey values user privacy, from chat requests to blocking a user to reporting inappropriate content.

Since the app wants people to continue meeting in person, IamHere has curated and aggregated events from multiple platforms, making it easier for users to discover events near them. The app also hosts one of the largest aggregations of verified NGOs in the country, making volunteering in the neighbourhood easy and fun.

While the app does a phenomenal job in enabling social discovery and collaboration, IamHere has a full-fledged marketplace where users or businesses can buy and sell through the platform. If you are a neighbour wanting to sell something, you can list it down on the app. If you are a business, you can build a complete digital store and promote it in the neighbourhood.

“We have a good mix of hobbies, business and social cause-related exchanges on the app. That’s exactly what we want neighbourhoods to be. People post about the information they want to share, a question they want to ask, or simply a picture of their life in the community,” remarks Naren Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO of IamHere.

IamHere takes the collaboration piece further and enables users to create and build their community within the app. It could be an association, a society or even a group of cyclists, an NGO looking to connect with its ecosystem or a brand wanting to stay connected to its loyal customers.

IamHere is making neighbourhoods thrive again. With discovery and collaboration have taken care of, IamHere has got you covered even for safety and privacy. IamHere sure is changing the way people connect “nearby”.