Commentary
Slingr Lets You Buy a Round for Friends... Anywhere
- by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 10, 2012
Location-based social networks are an acquired taste, since not everyone necessarily feels like sharing their whereabouts with friends. But the location-based model just got a bit tastier with the advent of Slingr, a mobile app that lets friends buy each other food and drinks in distant locales.
After signing up for Slingr, you just check in at a participating venue, automatically posting a link to your personal feed on Facebook, Twitter, or a number of other compatible social networks. Friends who see the link can click on it to view a menu of items available at that venue, which they can purchase and send to your table. You can specify which items you’re interested in (“I’m at venue X and in the mood for a martini”).
The idea certainly is nifty, although it assumes a certain generosity which may or may not manifest itself in the ways promised on the Slingr.net site: “Imagine dinner on your birthday paid for by Mom and Dad, dessert sent from your boss, and a steady flow of drinks from your best friends, all free to you thanks to Slingr.” (Personal note to my boss: you are welcome to send me a supply of Nutter Butters in the mail, should the fancy strike you). It also remains to be seen if people will continue feeling generous after the novelty wears off.
On the other hand, in situations where it does work, Slingr is a potential goldmine for restaurants with well-connected patrons whose friends feel like splashing out from afar (presumably a good barkeep won’t serve you all 20 drinks at the same time). There are also lots of obvious integrations for Slingr with other platforms: I’m thinking it might fit nicely with mobile city guides and online daily deal services, for starters.
Erik Sass is editor of Publishers Daily. You can reach Erik at eriksass@gmail.com.
Great blog, Erik! Really glad you did this write up; you bring up some excellent points, and I love the suggestions for integration.
Just to quickly clarify something, there's no sign-up for customers to use Slingr. While venues need to sign up to use the technology, all you (the patron) need to do is show up and check in.
While it'll be interesting to see how the novelty aspect will affect Slingr's while we're rolling it out, I doubt there'll be a loss of interest over time. First, there'll always be people celebrating their birthdays, throwing bachelor/bachelorette parties, or going out for an anniversary dinner — and there'll always be those who can't join but want to do something nice for a friend/crush/significant other.
Also, we definitely programmed Slingr so that customers don't get bombarded with more drinks than they can handle. First, when multiple drinks are ordered in a short period of time, they are automatically spaced out in the order queue by about 15 minutes. Also, the bartender/server has the discretion to reject an order if they see the customer is too drunk or not there.
Is this different than Bartab on facebook? Been gaining ground for a long while now.
Hey Tim. Slingr is WAY different from BarTab. In fact, despite what looks like a relatively similar target audience, they don't really compete. BarTab is a discount drink coupon service — a friend sends a voucher for a $1 beer that someone can then redeem by walking up to the bar and displaying said drink coupon on their phone to the bartender. Logistical criticisms aside (there are many), Slingr functions significantly differently, and for that matter, neither app impedes the others' functionality. To use Slingr, a patron must be currently visiting Slingr venue (e.g., bar, club, restaurant, etc.). When a patron checks in, it posts an update to his or her Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, which displays on his or her friends' social feeds. This is where the functionality diverges drastically: first, friends can purchase something for the bar patron from a wide list of menu items (not just beer...hell, not just alcohol!); second, the prices are set by the venue, so there isn't a massive loss of profit — this also allows Slingr to operate across state lines, in states that do not allow alcohol coupons or hard drink discounts (eg., Texas, Florida, etc.); third, tipping is mandatory, guaranteeing that servers are taken care of; and fourth, Slingr's technology is location-based, allowing whatever was ordered to be delivered right to the patron's table. While there are a handful of apps that associate phones and booze, the reality is there is no other app that does what Slingr does.