{"id":337712,"date":"2017-04-06T02:36:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T18:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1473236"},"modified":"2017-04-06T02:36:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T18:36:25","slug":"microsoft-launches-whos-in-a-social-event-planning-app-for-imessage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/microsoft-launches-whos-in-a-social-event-planning-app-for-imessage\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft launches \u201cWho\u2019s In,\u201d a social event planning app for iMessage"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s name isn\u2019t exactly synonymous with social networking, though that hasn\u2019t stopped the company from finding angles into this space \u2013 generally, with more of a focus on the business side of socializing, as with its LinkedIn<\/a> and Yammer<\/a> acquisitions. It\u2019s own efforts in social, meanwhile, have failed, as with last month\u2019s shuttering<\/a> of its\u00a0social network for students, Socl.<\/p>\n

Now the company is giving social another shot with a new iMessage app called \u201cWho\u2019s In,\u201d aimed at helping friends plan events and other outings, like movie dates, dinners out, visits to nearby attractions, and more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The app, which just launched today on the iMessage App Store, does not have an iPhone or iPad version at this time \u2013 it can only be accessed via\u00a0iMessage.<\/p>\n

When you first launch the app, it asks you to select an activity: \u201cEat and drink,\u201d \u201cWatch a movie,\u201d \u201cVisit an attraction,\u201d or \u201cCreate your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

After choosing one of the options, Who\u2019s In then\u00a0leverages Microsoft\u2019s search engine Bing for its suggestions of things to do \u2013 like\u00a0area restaurants or movie showtimes, for example. These appear after you consent to sharing your location with the app.<\/p>\n

With a few more taps you enter the\u00a0other details, like the event time, or \u2013 in the case of a custom event \u2013 the location, name, and a description.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The app will the\u00a0create a custom card for your\u00a0event, designed for texting, which includes a thumbnail image with the location and the time. The images the app uses are generic, however, as you can see in the above example. That\u2019s disappointing in terms of the overall experience.<\/p>\n

Recipients can tap on this card and then tap a thumbs up button to indicate they\u2019re \u201cin\u201d or the thumbs down to indicate they\u2019re \u201cout.\u201d (Hence the app\u2019s name.)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also useful is that the app offers a way for the event\u2019s organizer to enter in multiple dates\/times, allowing Who\u2019s In to serve as a sort of group polling app.<\/p>\n

This addresses one of the common struggles of organizing outings via iMessage \u2013 there\u2019s often a lot of back and forth chatter about what time everyone wants to do the thing being discussed. With Who\u2019s In, you can instead send out the event\u2019s card and collect votes.<\/p>\n

One funny thing to note about Who\u2019s In is that Google years ago launched its own social app aimed at getting friends together to hang out. Its name? Who\u2019s Down<\/a>. That app was eventually shut down for lack of use.<\/p>\n

That said, Microsoft\u2019s\u00a0app (also not to be confused with this indie app<\/a> of the same name) seems like a handy addition for anyone who spends a lot of time in SMS and iMessage chats making plans with friends.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, with the way the app integrations in iMessage have been designed, it\u2019s still overly cumbersome to find apps, and\u00a0use them after installation. This has led to slowing growth in the store, according to one third-party report,<\/a> as well as complaints from developers<\/a> and pundits<\/a> alike about the iMessage store\u2019s design issues. These concerns are valid, and will\u00a0likely impact the adoption of Microsoft\u2019s Who\u2019s In app, too.<\/p>\n

We should note, too, that this is not Microsoft\u2019s first entry into the iMessage App Store, nor even its first social app for iMessage.<\/p>\n

The company already launched iMessage apps for OneDrive, Yammer, and Bing, plus a Halo stickers app, and a similarly focused event planning app, called #MovieDate<\/a>. This latter app,\u00a0as the name implies, is only for movies, and it has a dating focus.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s In is a free download for iPhone users<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Microsoft’s name isn’t exactly synonymous with social networking, though that hasn’t stopped the company from finding angles into this space – generally, with more of a focus on the business side of socializing, as with its LinkedIn and Yammer acquisitions. It’s own efforts in social, meanwhile, have failed, as with last month’s shuttering of its\u00a0social… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-337712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}