Swipe left, swipe left, swipe – ooh, swipe right!
No, we’re not on Tinder. At TechArk, we’ve spent the last ten minutes downloading and swiping on Shapr, the newest professional social networking app.
If you haven’t heard of it don’t be alarmed – it’s still growing. With 1.5 million matches already made this year alone, we’re sure someone you know is on there already. Shapr combines Tinder with LinkedIn, suggesting connections based on a user’s location, and filtering by interests and professional industry.
The upshot of all this is that you get served more personalized professional connections in your area. Neat, right?
Pros: Quality over Quantity
Better than LinkedIn for curating meaningful professional relationships, Shapr is intended to pair like-minded individuals (regardless of gender or orientation) and encourage them to meet in person to chat, trade ideas, offer mentorship, or even become business partners.
The algorithm is what sets Shapr apart from LinkedIn. Just as Facebook curates your news feed based on your activity, Shapr curates your potential matches based on your interests and other information on your LinkedIn (if you choose to connect the two apps); or entered manually into your profile.
You no longer have to hunt down potential connections, they are served to you. No more cringing as you click that name, knowing they’ll get a notification even though you’re not sure you even want to connect. Simply swipe right on Shapr, and hope for a match!
Cons: Not Enough Quantity
Although the concept and execution are great, Shapr doesn’t yet have high membership. This drastically reduces the number of professional connections to be made, particularly for users in rural areas. There may not be many connections to be made in some places, and in others there simply may not be many Shapr members.
Shapr’s own restrictions create additional drawbacks in the volume of membership. Users are only served 20 potential matches at a time, and new batches are served up only after 16 hours. This severely reduces the amount of time that can be spent on the app, as opposed to Tinder, whose users can easily sink an hour into aimlessly swiping.
The connections made on Shapr may be few and far between, but the idea is that they will be more meaningful, impactful, and purposeful professional relationships.
Maybe we’ll see YOU on Shapr soon. Happy swiping!
About TechArk Solutions
For over 10 years, TechArk Solutions has offered website design, digital marketing, and custom software solutions to businesses across the United States and beyond. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company comprises a global team of experts dedicated to growth, innovation, and quality. To learn more, email hello@gotechark.com or visit https://gotechark.com.
