For a brief period of time, close out the myriad social-media apps open on your device, pause that seemingly endless stream of distracting notifications, and temporarily affix your full focus away from the frenzied, short-attention-span, click-bait society we all have begrudgingly become so accustomed to in recent years.
Welcome to a newly created corner of internet utopia where the intent is happiness over hype, bliss instead of belittling, and real connections in the place of crass condemnation.
Imagine joining a community as powerful and wide-reaching as Facebook, but without those judgmental friends from high school, the petty bickering over politics, and the watchful eyes of your every keystroke. Imagine finding a place as informative and enlightening as Twitter minus all of the mean-spirited and anger-filled hate spewed around by the anonymous keyboard warriors. Imagine the humor, information, and creativity of sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok all rolled into one, only this time your followers truly are of like mind and exceptionally supportive of your experiences and opinions.
Sound too good to be true? Scott Swanson, a tech industry veteran once described as “Buddha in a Business Suit,” certainly doesn’t think so. That’s why Swanson has been so hard at work in recent years to create Bonder, the most innovative communications
platform that you likely have yet to hear of, but one that you are sure to soon love if you have grown weary of the shallowness and pettiness so prevalent on most of today’s most popular social media apps.
Swanson’s ultimate goal with Bonder — the world’s first location-based communications platform — is to marry the best of technology with the best of humanity and provide good services for people who want to do good — all of which he holds the patent for. Naive or not, Swanson is extremely hopeful that by bringing together people of like mind and helping them make deeper connections than many of the surface-level relationships in much of today’s social media that Bonder will ultimately provide a safer and much happier social-networking site.
“It’s important for people to understand that we are not another Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tiktok, Parler, or Clubhouse,” Swanson said. “We’re not competing with them, we’re just not them. We are something that evolves us beyond that space and a platform that works to centralize the human masses and create meaningful human encounters.”
Traditional proximity apps that seek to connect people have failed
Swanson tried to rise above all of the noise and confusion on today’s social media channels by creating a communications platform where deeper connections are both encouraged and uniquely possible.
On Bonder, users can experience several unique features found only on this platform. Because of Bonder’s 100% private and invite-only, opt-in network, users are guaranteed others in their proximity are there to mutually benefit from the engagement and support others in their communities.
Bonder users can create professional and social circles that are always private. Geo-tagging allows users with common interests to connect offline if they so choose. Users interested in donating to a charitable cause can do so knowing that a minimum of 90% of the funds will directly go to your philanthropy.
Then, there are a couple of especially distinct features of Bonder that differentiate it from other apps. There’s a business-to-consumer feature where employees can fully engage customers before, during, and after the point of sale — all while being sure to maintain the proper amount of social distancing in society’s “new normal” of engagement.
Swanson’s goal of connecting people on a significantly deeper level sounds simple, but yet it is clearly a complex and elusive vision since so many social-media powerhouses have failed in this venture over the last couple of decades.
Swanson, who lives by the principle of wanting to make the world a better place to live, is hopeful his app will allow users to establish deeper connections with people who think and live like us.
“Traditional proximity apps that seek to connect people based on mutual interest have failed,” says Swanson, whose platform also allows users to send virtual gift cards to friends and family members as a way of brightening someone else’s day. “What’s more important: Having 1 million followers on your Instagram, or knowing that there are 250 people within a 25-mile radius of you who would meet you for coffee, schedule a hobby-centric group event, or even have your back in a time of need?”
Swanson knows which option he would choose in that scenario and he’s hopeful that others tired of the judging and bickering on Facebook and the trash-talk on Twitter will join him on Bonder. Once there, users might finally be able to build the kinds of meaningful connections with like-minded people that they have sought and failed to find for years amid the noise and chaos on other outlets.
If he gets his wish and Bonder becomes more popular among people seeking a change, Swanson feels the world just might become a kinder, gentler place for us all.
“It’s essentially a self-contained ecosystem of people coming together and helping people,’’ he said of his dreams for Bonder.
Bonder is available on the App Store and Google Play. For more information, visit bonder.me.
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