MILWAUKEE — A new app built by a local Milwaukeean is putting the social back into social media. It's all about helping people make connections and create community.
Imagine this scenario. You go to a cafe like Wantable in Milwaukee and the tables are taken. Not full, but maybe a bunch of single people at four-person tables. You want to sit down but don’t know if you can. The app Sit By Me indicates if that person is open to others sitting down to have a conversation or working quietly next to each other.
“What we found is two-thirds of people actually wanted to sit by other people or didn’t mind if people sat at their table with them," Brad Steckart, the CEO and founder of Sit By Me, said.
The app launched in February. It has about 500 users so far. The goal is to have roughly 10,000 by July.
“If you’re co-working and you’re home alone all day and you just need to be around people, this is an indicator of where the people who are doing the same thing as you are and they’re looking for the same thing as you, so you can go build community around that," Steckart said.
The app has a map that shows where people are. Users profiles include photos and a short description of themselves. Once the account is set up, people can see who is where and what their interaction preferences. A red dot means they are open to people sitting by them but not really into chatting. A green dot indicates they are open to conversation.
"It's comfortable to go to the coffee shop, and get in line, and stare at your phone because that's what we do. But I see a world where people go and they go in line at the coffee shop, and they look at thier phone because it's comfortable. But instead of looking at the sites that they are used to scrolling, they're actually going to go and scroll to see who's open to chat in the cafe by them," Steckart said.
The app is still in its infancy, so one way Steckart is getting the word out is the old school way - by going up to people at cafes.
“We're launching a new app in Milwaukee called Sit By Me," he said to a group of people at a table inside Wantable cafe in Milwaukee. In a total coincidental fashion (seriously, we did not plan this), one of his 500 users was at that table.
“I’m definitely a chatty person, so when I’m in the mood, it’s cool to literally hit a green light for that," Madeline Spain, one of the app's users, said.
She had downloaded the QR code on the Wantable table when she was working at the cafe a few days prior.
"It's nice to be able to say, 'Oh yea, you can sit by me. Let's chat,'" she said.
Wantable is the first cafe to partner with Sit By Me. Already, it's benefiting from the app.
“So tables can get taken really quickly. We don’t want people coming in and saying, 'Oh shoot, I can’t actually work here.' This is a great window for filling the extra seats—come sit with other individuals because a lot of them are in the same boat as you," Mackenzie Wimmer, the director of partnerships and social media at Wantable, said.
There are safety features built into the app so users feel safe sharing their location. Only people who are in the same building as you and have the app can see your location.
The app will make money from offering subscriptions to businesses and with a freemium model that offers users extra benefits like establishing their own spots and offering special events to users.
I’ve actually been doing something similar to Steckart. Some days when I'm not reporting on a story, I’ll go to a cafe to do work on my computer. I’ll tape a sign to it that says, 'Got news? Let’s talk,' to invite people to sit down and chat.
Ultimately, the app Sit By Me is all about establishing connections. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General said loneliness is increasing while in-person social engagement is decreasing.
“You can live in a world where if you’re feeling lonely or if you’re feeling down, we want to create resources for you to be able to make connections and meet other people in the city," Steckart said.
There are Facebook groups (and other services) you can join that fit people's hobbies and allow them to meet occasionally. However, the difference with Sit By Me is that the app is life and offers immediate connections.
The app is available on the Apple and Google Play stores. It’s free to download.
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