Somebody 1.0

Send messages to nearby users and have it deliver in person to the intended recipient.Texting is tacky. Calling is awkward. Email is old. Next time try Somebody -- an app created by Miranda July with support from Miu Miu. When you send your friend a message through Somebody, it goes -- not to your friend -- but to the Somebody user nearest your friend. This person (likely a stranger) delivers the message verbally, acting as your stand-in. Somebody works best with a critical mass of users in a given area; colleges, workplaces, parties and concerts can become Somebody hotspots simply by designating themselves as one (official hotspots on somebodyapp.com). The most high-tech part of the app is not in the programming, it's in the users who dare to deliver a message to stranger. In this sense Somebody is a far-reaching public art project, inciting performance and twisting our love of avatars and outsourcing. The antithesis of the utilitarian efficiency that tech promises, here, finally, is an app that makes us nervous, giddy, and alert to the people around us.