• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 15, 2016

In addition to making some of the most popular smartphones in the world, for some reason Samsung keeps trying to launch strange peripheral products and services based on them. In theory it makes sense to leverage its huge reach and special tech capabilities, but in practice these ideas usually seem to turn out half-baked or just misconceived.

Here’s a new one: Samsung has unveiled a new social network named, rather unfortunately, “Waffle.” So-called because its visual interface resembles the grid of the beloved breakfast food, Waffle invites users to join in something resembling a collective Snapchat, in which one user posts a piece of content, starting the grid, and other users then add responses around it, filling in the grid.

Samsung’s C-Lab, which developed the app, calls the result a “communal graffiti wall,” and offered an example in a promotional video, as a group of friends contributed whimsical drawings and photos with drawn elements (many designed to complete other contributions, in collaborative fashion) to wish their friend a happy birthday.

Not coincidentally, the new social platform gives Samsung an excuse to tout the S Pen or Bluetooth-enabled C Pen, which comes in handy for the drawing functions. It’s currently available in beta on Android, but may come to other platforms if it gains traction.

However, tech types immediately pointed out some possible pitfalls, including the classic chicken-and-egg conundrum facing all new social networks: what if nobody contributes other waffle-bits, leaving you essentially waffle-less? Won’t users just get bored and give up? On a related note, there’s also the danger Waffle comes to be viewed as a Samsung-specific app, which will make it less attractive in the eyes of users compared to established social networks.

And while this critique is admittedly superficial, “Waffle” is just not a good name, period. I wonder if anyone at Samsung noted that the word is synonymous with indecision, obfuscation, and general inability to perform in English. How about “Lattice,” or “Mesh,” or “Check,” or “Wove,” or “Plaid,” or anything besides “Waffle?”