SocialRadar: location-based social app hosts launch events in Philly

SocialRadar, a Washington, D.C.-based location-driven social app from Blackboard founder Michael Chasen, is hosting a series of launch events in Philly.

The iOS app feels like a Tinder or Grindr for friends, without the dating component. You can hook the app up to social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to find friends nearby and message them. You can also find nearby strangers if that’s what you’re into.

Though the app is available to anyone in the U.S., SocialRadar is hosting a series of launch events as a way to find users in different cities, said spokeswoman Shana Glenzer. It started in its home city of Washington, D.C. and has now landed in Philly, with a group of SocialRadar staffers. It hosted a few, invite-only meals (one of which, full disclosure, this reporter attended), scheduled speaking engagements for Chasen and is throwing a launch party at Skybox in Fishtown on Thursday, May 22, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

There will be no SocialRadar employees based in Philadelphia, Glenzer said. Instead the goal with these events is to create density among users of the app to improve its value.