Two Missoula, Mont., entrepreneurs have launched software for the iPhone, iPod touch and laptop computers that upends the conventional sense of social networking. Unlike online dating and friendship Web sites where connections are made in cyberspace, the software's goal is moving people from virtual relationships into real ones.
The software is aimed at the tech-savvy generation who are comfortable mingling online. It's an icebreaker that could lead to a smile or conversation, say Glenn Kreisel and Steve Saroff, who are partners in the company, iCloseby.
They noticed how people in the wireless world of coffee shops, cafes and airports sat near other people, but were e-mailing friends far away. For a variety of reasons, people weren't broaching conversations with people sitting in the same room. Hints about people in pre-computer days, from the magazines, books and newspapers they were reading, often led to conversations. But glimpses into people's interests were harder to discern behind laptops.
"I saw the cafes take a step backward in socializing because of computers and technology," said Kreisel in an e-mail 
Friday from his travels in Morocco.
Party Line
The duo recently launched the application, iFob, which seeks a niche in the social networking world. It sends out a "homing beacon" at wireless hotspots, alerting other users that you're nearby and receptive to socializing. Someone might broadcast a single line, "I love snowboarding" and see if anyone replies. Eventually, the messaging could lead to a conversation. The software also allows people to just "listen" at a hotspot.
Unlike social networking Web sites, Saroff said the software doesn't require online profiles, resumes, pictures and other facts. It's more casual, Saroff said, where you don't start with a list of social accomplishments, but share personal stuff gradually.
"It is modeled after a party with casual small talk where you selectively reveal information," he said. "It's not like social bores and idiots who barge into conversations or social networking sites that are aimed at ego and weirdness."
Saroff said the technology breaks the "firewall of the computer screen," cutting through some of the isolation and loneliness of technology.
"You look at kids and all they do is IM and text message," he said. "There is a certain age where the most important thing in life is meeting other people.
"Our goal is getting people back to actually talking to each other. And it may be nothing more than a conversation of 'Hey, you're using this weird software, too.' But it's an icebreaker."
Mixed Reactions
Inside Liquid Planet's downtown cafe, Stephanie Peterson, 23, e-mailed friends during a Missoula visit with her boyfriend. She said she could envision herself using the software for networking or socializing, but not for dating.
"It's bound to catch on, it's just a matter of time," she said. "No one really wants to admit it, but it is easier to e-mail because you can avoid all the rejection. It's just words."
Others were more circumspect.
Ryan Small, 25, who coaches men's lacrosse for the University of Montana, said he likes hanging out in coffee shops for the music and atmosphere. He says he owns a cell phone and does a little text messaging, but prefers meeting people through friends.
"It could be a good thing for people who are shy, but I wouldn't use it. To me, it's a cop-out," Small said. "In my world, you've got to face your fears and this is a way of avoiding it. If there was a girl I was interested in, I would just walk up to her."
Others said they enjoy using the Facebook 
or MySpace sites for friendships or for staying connected with people they've met at business conferences.
Lisa Fong, 27, sitting with her laptop at Break Espresso, said she's comfortable with online connections, but is protective of her privacy. She has MySpace and Facebook accounts, but is careful.
"If people want to add me as a friend on those sites, I usually reply, 'Do I know you?' " Fong said. The new software "would be scary -- it just doesn't appeal to me."
Nathaniel Wilson, 23, a creative writing student at the university, said he could see high schoolers using the software.
"That's the age gap between me and my brother, and he's more into Facebook and technology. I can see something like this being popular."
Free for iPhone, Touch
Saroff said the software is a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch. It costs US$10 for laptop computers. Since the software's release on Jan. 29, he said the iPhone-related sites already have given the software some free visibility.
He said he's also marketing the software for about $10,000 a month on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) advertising engine, which places ads geographically on Web sites. Their ads are aimed at people in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.
Jakki Mohr, a marketing professor at the University of Montana's School of Business Administration and author of a textbook on high- tech marketing, said consumers ultimately will determine if iFob succeeds.
"With this generation, with the way they integrate technology in their lives, this is how they are interacting. It may seem like it is artificial or staged, but these users, they don't feel that way," she said. "It isn't uncommon with these technologies that you figure out the cool application before you figure out the business plan. People who follow that route have been successful, but it is higher risk."
Kreisel said he expects the software to change and evolve.
'No End to What Is Possible'
The name iFob relates to a fob, or a device that is attached to someone -- like watches in the old days and cell phones today. The iCloseby Web site relates the concept of physical proximity.
Russ Fletcher, head of a network of entrepreneurs and business professionals called the "Montana Associated Technology Roundtables," said Saroff and Kreisel have a strong track record.
They've developed Freemail, an early e-mail software, and RemoteScan, software that allows scanners to be used in medical and financial facilities.
"There is really no end to what is going to be possible with cell phones that are basically computers,"
Fletcher said. "These are two of the sharpest business guys I know in the area. It is how things are moving forward here."
The two entrepreneurs said they're trying to reconnect people in a wired world.
"There is a whole group of people who are actually trying to meet for a good conversation. There is loneliness to the virtual online world," Saroff said. "It is trying to bring back reality into social networking."
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