Zazzer Mixes Social, Group Messaging, and LBS – But Will It Blend?

A Chinese start-up is going very ‘elastic’ by mixing location (LBS), social, and IM/group messaging into its Zazzer service, which has beta Android and iPhone apps.

The service’s Chinese name is a lot more descriptive: ZaiZher IM, which basically translates to Here IM. The firm behind this is Bejing-based Rooster Tech. It combines checking in to venues with a much greater element of meeting new people than most LBSs – more easily allowing users to chat online with people in your area.

In this way, Zazzer is a lot like traditional IM platforms – such as QQ – or the new wave of group messaging apps, like Xiaomi’s Miliao, or Tencent’s Weixin. Except the location-based element affords a much greater likelihood of meeting new people who have similar interests as you, since they’re checking in to some of your preferred venues. But it’ll remain to be seen if Chinese netizens want to use such a service to connect with strangers, or prefer to use other apps to keep it to friends only.

Zazzer’s reach is not limited to trying to chase hot girls in your nearest Starbucks (though I can imagine that would be a popular usage), and can be used to exchange electronic business cards.

Rooster Tech/Zazzer CEO Robert Xiong, in a screenshot of the Zazzer iPhone app.

Rooster’s CEO is Xiong Shang Wen (pictured right), whose English name is Robert. As a serial entrepreneur he has recently had success with the group messaging service Foxfly, which really took off in the US.

The Chinese site Techweb, after talking to Robert, said that Zazzer has great untapped potential in a business environment. It wrote:

At a crowded event such as a conference it can be difficult to target people who you’d be interested in … On such occasions, Zazzer would help users find people based on interests, and then communicate with them and exchange [electronic/real] business cards.

Of course, that presumes that those around you also use the app – which is a fundamental issue with any group messaging service: it’s only useful if those around you are jumping on board too.

The app is available on the iTunes App Store or the Android Market, if you want to give it a try – though it’s available only in Chinese and designed for use in China.