Wanted: Hyper Local Disruption

I wonder if creating a local wifi hotspot with a captive portal would be a good way to jump-start these hyper-local groups. So a user logging onto the local open wifi hotspot is re-directed to the local group, which might be Yahoo or Google group - or even a local noticeboard/forum that is accessible only from that hotspot.

Isn't something like ning.com perfect for this functionality? Also, a Facebook group could work fairly well.

This exists: http://www.lifeat.com

Has done for some time: http://techcrunch.com/2007/10/16/does-your-building-need-a-s...

Since reading that article almost 3 years ago, I've not heard another thing about it. I guess it's pretty hard for hyper-local networks to spread like the wildfire of Facebook et. al.

Google Groups. My 4 unit building uses groups to share info, docs, and anything else that residents need to know.

My first surprise moving into my first apartment was that, unlike dorms, people didn't socialize with one another. I found that very odd and disappointing, but soon after realized why: unlike college students, people living in apartments are at different stages of life and have different interests.

There are a few compelling use cases to hyperlocal social networking. This article touches on a few, but confuses them with the type of relationships you have with friends.

Yes, there are probably some people in your building that you would actually want to be friends with, but it's not clear IMO how to make that happen. If there really were that many people around who you could be friends with, people in apartments would hang out regularly offline, and they don't.

Certainly would have its benefits for residential issues, though baking cookies for the neighbors becomes a real efficiency challenge at 400 people.

I've had these same thoughts myself while walking to the laundry mat in my apartments. I know that Ning exists, maybe it's too general? Maybe a social network for apartments would get more usage? You'd have the problem of verifying that someone lives in the apartments (facebook used to verify you went to school.edu by your school.edu email address).