Notre Dame students have developed an app to help you make sure you’re maximizing the memories you make on your nights out.
Notre Dame is notorious for having multiple events happening at the same time. Sometimes, all the options for what to do, where to go, and who to see on your night out can make you a little crazy. Between trying to decide on what’s the hottest social event, seeing where your extended friend network is going, trying to avoid waiting in long lines, it’s easy to get so stressed out about planning your night out that you forget to have fun!
But now there’s NoMo.
It’s an app designed to help people make more informed decisions about destinations and events, and it just launched on Notre Dame’s campus. Her Campus decided to try the app out to see how to use it and why it helps combat the fear of missing out!
Here’s what you need to know to begin to NoMo:
1. Choose a location.
The app opens asking you a simple question: “Where are you going tonight?” To begin to use the app, you have to input your phone number to join the NoMo network. You’ll then be asked to input the address of where you plan to go in the next 24 hours in order to see where other people on NoMo are going.
What I like best about NoMo is that it operates only within a 24 hour time frame, making it very different from an app like Wigo. It’s also different because it isn’t tracking your location, showing it to other people, or relying on check-ins like Foursquare. I’m crazy about privacy, and this app makes sure to only show what someone’s planned location is to others.
Unlike with a Facebook Event invite, where someone can click “Yes” two weeks in advance and never truly plan on attending, NoMo resets its list of events each day (a 24 hour cycle) so it really relies on the idea of people being honest about where they are going in order to guage where others plan on going. It’s part crowdsourcing, part game theory for Millenial social butterflies!
2. Start your own party.
If an event like a dorm party isn’t in the list of events appearing on the app, you can create the party yourself by inputting its location. So, if a group of people want to have a game watch for the Notre Dame Women’s Championship, they can type in “442 Pasquerilla West Hall,” name it “Super Fun Game Watch,” and invite friends to come to the event. To stop illegitimate events from popping up all over campus (think “Park Bench Party” at “4578 God Quad”), an event has to be confirmed by a critical mass of people before it becomes a plausible choice to attend.
3. Find out where others will be.
For people 21 and over, I think NoMo is great because it can help make decisions about what bar to go to on nights where any bar can be up-for-grabs: think Fridays and Saturdays where people can’t decide between Finni’s, the Backer, Corby’s, or a house party. The app seeks to eliminate the asymmetry of information that occurs when making plans so that you can make as informed a decision as possible.
Obviously text messaging helps you coordinate where you and your closest friends will be going each night, but oftentimes you forget to text people outside of your immediate friend group and just have to leave to to chance whether or not you’ll see them out at the same place as you. NoMo helps you know what those other friends and acquaintances plan on doing.
Want to know where your creepy ex is going so as to avoid them at all costs?
NoMo has you covered.
Personally, I think NoMo is also going to be a great tool for helping planning what time you should get somewhere. NoMo tells you both how many friends in your network, and how many people using the app in total plan to be at a location. So if you want to make sure you get a free t-shirt at a Friday hockey game at the Compton, and you see that 800 people also plan on attending, you’ll know to arrive as early as possible.
Find the app on the Apple App Store under “NoMo,” like its Facebook page here, and follow the app on Twitter @NoMo_App. Here’s the app’s formal description:
“NoMo is a free app that helps you get the most out of the time you spend with friends. NoMo helps its users communicate their social plans to the important people in their life, and does so in a private, easy to use manner. We will never share your location; only where you tell us you intend on going. Interested? Join the NoMo community by answering a simple question: ‘Where are you going tonight?’ The team at NoMo believes the time we share with our friends is limited and precious. Our goal is to help you never miss another memory. Join us!”
Right now, NoMo is best suited for use by students at Notre Dame. In other words, this app was created by Notre Dame students for Notre Dame students! The app’s creative team, however, hopes to eventually expand the app onto other college campuses and then into major cities and their neighborhoods.
What are you waiting for? Go get NoMo and start unmasking your night!
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Images courtesy of NoMo.