FourSquare meets LinkedIn: Unsocial uncloaks for iPhone and Android

A new app is launching in beta for iPhone and Android today, called Unsocial. It claims to be the kind of child you’d imagine from a marriage of FourSquare and LinkedIn: a business networking service combined with a location-based application. We take a look.

What’s the story?

“Unsocial” is so named because it’s not about staying in contact with your current social network. While FourSquare or Gowalla will help you know where your friends are, Unsocial will let you know when a business connection you really should know is nearby. It also allows you to search for nearby connections through “categories” of people – and it connects to your LinkedIn account, so the searches will probably be relevant.

Welcome to Unsocial from Kiran Modak on Vimeo.

The app is currently available for both iPhone and Android, with the plan to cater for BlackBerry and HTML5 in the very near future. To begin with, it will only work in San Francisco and the Bay Area, with new cities being added one at a time.

What we think?

Now, like any other service that lets people know where you are, privacy is paramount. Both people will be carefully approached by the service to ensure that they really want to make a connection – but this app is more about business than personal, remember. It should be viewed more like an advertising service; unless you actively want to broadcast and promote your persona “brand” over Unsocial, you really shouldn’t sign up.