Found it on Findery

Tell a story with interactive maps

By Anca Gagiuc on Aug 16, 2013 in Technology

Some memories are so powerful that you’d want to mark them somehow more than just in your mind. Memories that you want to be able to access from miles away, simply displayed on a map, memories that describe themselves through photos, notes, and even videos. It can be a new place that you’ve visited, it can be a recurring place you go to for family reunions, it can be a restaurant that marks anniversaries with your loved one, your amazing work place, or even your home. Under this concept Findery landed on Google Maps.

Serial entrepreneur Caterina Fake, known as the co-founder of Flickr, sensed the need for a tool that allows internet lovers to gather their memories in a soulful and sincere manner, without that “social peacocking” some of the apps today offer. She describes it as an attempt to bring humanity back on the internet, and the intention behind this new network is to tell the story of your life, connecting it with places. You are the one to decide of it’s for the general public or for your eyes only.

Aside from the personal side of Findery, business owners can sign up for accounts. Real estate company Corcoran has already done so and is providing information about its properties and other local knowledge on the network, in an attempt to attract future clients. This tells a lot about the potential of this idea: out-of-towners, tourists or people who need to relocate due to their work or school, can easily learn about the new city from the people who placed notes with their experiences. Prospective renters could easily pull up Google Maps and search for apartment communities in the area they are interested in moving to. Everything is laid out on a map with real stories and experiences from real people about real places. This new tool could very well become an extremely transparent review forum for apartment complexes throughout the country and even beyond its borders. Property managers could advertise their portfolio while their residents will feel the need to share their honest recommendation about their home.

Findery can also become a place for students to find stories about the places they are studying in the geography and history lessons. A partnership with museums and other non-profit organizations would bring to the yet web-based platform relevant content, adding to the existing collaboration with U.K.-base Open Plaques that provides markers for historically significant events around the world.

Do you find Findery suitable for your business? Would you incorporate it in the marketing strategies for your apartment community?