I like the concept a lot. Here's what I see as it's advantages over striking up face-to-face conversation:

1. the other people actually want to chat -- If the other people are signed on, then they're looking to chat and you're not interrupting the guy trying to read the paper.

1.5. the other people are also on messageparty -- which is a filter in itself, especially at this point. like begets like, and the chance of engaging conversation multiplies.

2. it's mass broadcast -- you're talking with everyone, not just one person, so you're more likely to find one person interesting among everyone at your location. I find this a much better than the "live" alternative of "speed dating" everyone at certain location just to engage in conversation that both parties actually care about.

3. people are uninterruptible -- just try getting 20 people talking in a room at the same time in the same place and still understand what's going on. with text chat, everyone's writing is on the screen and you don't miss a thing.

4. distance is relative -- sure, the hot chick 2 seats away from you in class is literally only 3 feet away, but the douchebag stranger between you two obviously won't appreciate being bothered.

5. as a student, i would totally use this in class -- sometimes you miss what the prof said, sometimes you just don't care what the prof says, or you want to find some tech-loving geeks to be in your study group

PS: for the founders -- please release for ipod touch and ipad wifi! we have (approximate) location abilities too!

I also think releasing this to the other iGeneration of products would be nice, however:

For iPod touch with Maps, the Maps application provides your approximate location using information based on your proximity to known Wi-Fi networks (when on and available). The more accurate the available information, the smaller the circle identifying your position on the map. The feature is not available in all areas. Known Wi-Fi networks are predominantly in urban areas. In order to provide your location, data is collected in a form that does not personally identify you. If you do not want such data collected, do not enable the feature. Not enabling the feature will not impact the functionality of your iPod touch.[1]

Google dishes out money to have people drive around all day and take pictures. Hell, I'll walk around all day with a laptop and gps dongle to log wifi spots.

The iP(ad)ods do not have the GPS like the phone. That is the only issue I see for releasing it for them. Maybe a zipcode/area select feature would come in handy? Sort of like Facebook groups but for specific locations. You could use YellowBook/Google Maps/Mapquest/Pay Service to help provide the business data for that area.

[1] http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs.html

I'm well aware the ipod touch and the ipad wifi both have location services based on wifi networks, and like you said, they're inaccurate outside of urban areas, but that's also where population density drops off and human-proximity-based apps like this are less applicable. precisely why i think it would be a great idea to go ahead and release for other 'idevices'

From the founders comment (in the comment section):

"...Sometimes people are curious about those around them but it's socially unacceptable to just go up and chat. So those meetings never really happen."

I can't think of an instance where it's more socially acceptable to poke at a phone keyboard than to talk with a human being face to face. Maybe in a movie theater? Maybe at 24 I'm already ridiculously too old to understand the greatness of texting/chatting but ... it's pretty rude?

From the homepage:

  Concerts and Sporting events : 
    Shouldn't you be enjoying the event with the people you went with?

  School : 
    Students should be learning not chatting. 
    It's also rude and disrespectful to the teacher.

  Mall:
    I guess this is valid for tweens or something.
    If I was a virtual-chatty-cathy,
    I would be more comfortable at home than with people on the run at the mall.

  Airport :
    Lot's of time to kill okay this is valid! (though still sad) =(

I am really trying to understand this product but at the moment, as others have stated, this is pretty sad.

Communication around a location/event is an existing behavior. People do this all the time at conferences, meetups, sporting events etc by using a Twitter hashtag, for example.

This seems like the natural evolution of that behavior.

Hey there thanks for your comment. I am the founder. So I think we've all learned that socializing on the internet is acceptable (ie meeting people on online dating sites, or on message boards, etc.) and what we're trying to do is bring those sorts of interactions to the mobile device. While I admit it's a bit weird to think about now, seeing how the product worked at YC Demo Day was really interesting - we had 200 people in a room and it's hard to talk to all of them at once but the "backchannel" provided an interesting additional medium to interact with people.

cool service. Im surprised others are not seeing how cool it is.

I mean im in a train station waiting til my train arrives 30 minutes from now. I see a few cuties, yet Im shy; such an app/idea would allow this geek to break the ice easier.

Interesting technology, terrible marketing. I wonder how "social" the culture really is with that group.

I could be on my own here, but the author is right - if a bus stop conversation ever occurred like that, it would be a sad day for humanity.

So the video was meant to be hyperbole - but it was really an exploration of how we interact already. Go to any bus station and you'll see that exact scene, except no one is interacting with the people around them. But they are definitely all on their phones. The idea is that the move "into our devices" is inevitable so why not admit that and try to create real-world interactions that support this behavior?

Because "support that behavior" is undermining true social interaction. Just because we technologically can doesn't mean we technologically should. But that is a matter of opinion.

As people with strong technology backgrounds we are usually the first to say that it is the answer to some daily pain or a solution to a problem. But technology can't replace everything - and true face-to-face interpersonal relationships I believe is one of them.

"Moving into devices" is a real-world cop-out. We tune into Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and HN to a degree more than we should and that becomes our reality more than the real world. If we started i-chatting with people we could, with less mental effort, talk to like humans have been for thousands of years we may actually learn something we didn't search for.

I'm not sure about the marketing here; I felt the same way as the author of the post with the anti-social aspect, but yet I now want to try it out for myself and I don't think it's a startup I'll forget.

If it had shown something more conventional, like a man and woman meeting in person on the bus because of their chat, I'm not sure it would have stuck in my head long enough to check it out.

Cute video but it does a terrible job of selling the idea to me.

Chat on it's own doesn't appeal much but including photo and video would change things. Being able to open my phone and see all the photos from the party so far would provide more fuel for real world interaction, not less.

Normally our party photos are lost on someones hard drive because noone cares about uploading them a week later when they remember.

I do not own an iPhone, or any type of phone for that matter, and well I can't tell enough about your app to persuade me into purchasing it; if I had one. Apps are simple-esc. It would be very easy for you to take that image to the right(screen shot) and turn it into a look-a-like "demo".

People who are visiting your site can chat back and forth, and kind of get a feel for what it's all about. Your app is all about being in the same place at the same time? Show it off.

You commercial also bugs me. It seems so sad, even the humorous parts bum me out. At least have them meet or someone say hi. You could do another, much shorter version, of some college kids in the quad. Have one IM another, IM another and get a big group together having a party, tossing a Frisbee, playing D&D. You could even go the more adult version and have someone getting laid; sex sells big time, think of your target audience.

Over all I think the idea is amazing. It's like an IRL ChatRoulette. I can see this getting popular without any help. Good luck and great job.

I was thinking about this same thing. But instead of connecting people simply based on proximity I choose to connect them based on proximity and intent (http://spotted.at). I think that adds much more relevance to the connection. I don't want to sound like a hater but I really just don't get this chatparty.com thing. Even as far as chat apps go its really just not very good.

Yeah, it's an interesting concept, but why not just strike up a conversation? Should be called Wallflower messenger. Could be interesting though as lowering the social barrier for those people could create interesting possibilities.