- When I walk in a park, there are often moms playing with their little kids. Sometimes the light, the trees, the playground structure or the place I’m standing will just frame a perfect, heartwarming picture of them playing with their child, joy on all faces. They will never see this unposed picture. Some people never see unposed pictures of themselves.
- So I made an app called SwapSnaps.com where moms can take pictures for each other directly into the cloud. Each family has a unique barcode. Approach a similar family, flash a one-time QR code and both families have a temporary cloud photo album, without exchanging any personal information. Either camera can take pictures of that time for the other family. It’s like a selfie stick, but with more depth and perspective.
- These unposed shots can be downloaded, copied to a personal account, or just enjoyed as a memory
- “Swap Snaps Stranger Exchanger”
SwapSnaps: Building a Better Way for Vendors to Engage
TL;DR: SwapSnaps aims to empower vendors with effective tools for customer engagement—your feedback and ideas are crucial to making this happen.
Many of us no longer want billionaires profiting every time we click a link. As a result, we’re stepping away from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X. However, these platforms are where you’ve carefully built your presence and cultivated your online customer base. Remember, if a platform isn’t charging you directly, it’s typically profiting by selling your audience’s attention, often displaying ads for products similar to yours. Social media has its benefits, but the downsides seem increasingly dominant.
That’s why I’m developing SwapSnaps, a new kind of event-focused platform. Think of it as a traveling event photo album meets yearbook meets vendor directory. At each festival or event, you and your customers capture and share photos, which remain accessible and organized for easy reference later. Imagine thinking, “Oh yeah, at WonderPlace Alpha, and they have a list of vendors, and here’s their email, and the vendor was in the middle, and I can go back and click to them instead of collecting business cards” is how my memory works. Instead of hunting for business cards or scattered bookmarks, your customers can effortlessly revisit past events online, see photos of your items, and quickly find your contact information.
SwapSnaps creates a digital memory bank that persists from event to event, making your presence easy to find and revisit long after the event concludes—be it WonderPlace Alpha or any festival, big or small.
I’m committed to developing features that genuinely help you engage customers and maintain long-term connections. Post your Instagram, Facebook, or LinkTree links here freely—let’s see who clicks through. Importantly, SwapSnaps respects privacy and transparency; I’m not tracking user behavior or collecting metrics to sell. If someone is intrigued by a product, encourage them to snap a picture. It’ll be easy for them to find later without cluttering their phone or losing track in a crowded stream on their phons. Plus, their snaps might inspire others browsing later, prompting valuable customer interactions.
This weekend is our proof-of-concept. The more images you post—quick selfies, behind-the-scenes shots of your process, or your best products—the greater your chances someone will spot something appealing and seek you out. If someone lingers over a piece, encourage them to take a snap of it just in case, and they’ll be able to quickly locate it later without cluttering up their own phone or losing it in the stream of pics on their phone.
Your images are fully shareable without any hidden algorithms pushing unrelated content to your viewers. Full disclosure: my broader vision includes creating an enjoyable offline-like photo-sharing experience for users to document real-life events collaboratively. I’m exploring this new market transparently, aiming to support genuine connections between vendors and customers—exactly how I came to meet Jeff.
Please consider snapping a picture something wonderful at WonderPlace Alpha using SwapSnaps. Or, upload a pic you already took. If it looks like a place with a lot going on, others will want to jump in. It might start a relationship, or a useful vendor tool for repeat business.
Meet your new neighbors
TL;DR:
Post snaps of your pets here: FurBabies
Post snaps of your wares here: Vending
Post snaps of your collections here: Collecting
Post your face here: Vendors (it will be nice to put a face to your name)
Remember you can upload images from Paparazzi Party
Example results here: Regina’s Stuff
Why:
WonderPlace Alpha is like a large block party where you can finally get to meet your neighbors. Your neighbors in interests and style. This work comes naturally to the extraverts. Introverts are helped to meet people when there is some known thing in common. That’s one thing the social media algorithm is good at – low key pairing up people by interests.
Nowadays people use their phones to augment reality and feel engaged. We’re trying to bring some of that to WonderPlace Alpha through a stream of interesting pictures and tags, maybe a chat area for people while there, ways to reach out to each other without the permanence of giving out digits/emails.
This discord channel has strengthened bonds and introduced new friendships. We could open a public channel to ticket holders and see what that leads to for those who are interested. I’ve been watching experienced vendors graciously teach new vendors hard-learned tricks. I’ve seen how popular it is to post fur babies. But those posts age out and who’s going to scroll through 3 days of chatter?
Make yourself approachable by listing some interests in the Wanderers section. Add snaps of your wares, your furBabies or kids, the things you like to collect. Post your face so others will know who you are.
For example (and thanks, Regina, great job!):
Please help make this a vibrant experiment by adding something to the stream!
Uploading Pictures, Setting your Profile, Tag chasing
In SwapSnaps, the Paparazi Party is a screen that allows you to see what everyone’s talking about, monitor a tag that’s your favorite, and quickly snap something you think others will want to see.
Uploading Pictures
The bottom row of buttons: On mobile, the Selfie/HD button launches your camera, so you have more control and can take a higher density shot. The shot you see on the screen should be good enough for viewing by mobile.
The upload button allows you to add a snap to the stream from your device. Maybe you have a favorite image you’d like as your selfie.
Setting your Profile
Let’s make that into your profile.
- Take a selfie or upload an image, then go to Swap Meet: Wanderers.
- Click on My Profile and add something about yourself. Click Publish.
- That info should appear, with a button “Pick” at the left. Click Pick, then click the shopping cart icon below your profile.
Others can now identify you by your profile.
Tag Chasing
Scroll in Latest Snaps Added (upper left) until you spot a tag. Click on that tag, and the upper right shows you all snaps tagged that way. Scroll down those snaps to find a different tag and click it, and that becomes the Display Tag.
This is designed to help with Fear Of Missing Out. At the left you see what’s being added, on the right you see the latest of what you’re most interested in, and at the bottom you get to quickly share for others anything that you wonder at, here at WonderPlace Alpha.
Welcoming Committee: Vendors First
Many attendees for WonderPlace Alpha have made more friends online than in real life (which is harder!). If we can better blend the two, we can help people have a better time. Sometimes the dance doesn’t start until the first brave couple gets out there.
As a vendor, you’re already listed in the Swap Meet:Vendors section, based on your intake form. Here are features that support you as a vendor.
But you’re also an attendee, and hopefully running around having fun and meeting new people. Here we write what users can do.
We’d like to ask you to set an example. We’ll email you a login link, as explained here. Please take a few seconds to login, post a selfie, publish info about yourself, and see if it helps draw people to your booth, or sparks any strangers to talk to you about your interests.
Thank you!
How SwapSnaps supports Vendors (Now with SELF EDIT)
- Directory List that includes details
2. Can include clickable email/phone/sms if you want to help people find you in the wilderness or even place a food order.
3. Planned Clickable map. It’s a big place.
4. Include snaps of your goods, of people wearing, browsing or eating your goods.
5. Your contact info persists after the event. Without handing out cards, ticket holders get a link to the event (for viewing their snaps) that includes the vendor list. Next time a gift giving time comes around,
At the top of your Yellow Hello Page, there is now a toggle to edit your entries. It is only available to the user we emailed you.
You’ll notice at the bottom, is where you can choose to put your business email, phone or SMS numbers. By default we leave these blank, which means people won’t be able to contact you. We did this because the contact info you used to sign up might be private, but now that means you have to opt-in to the listing. Even though your sms might be the same as your phone number, we provide either/both as clickable links to the ticket holders. If you only want text, no phone calls, only enable the SMS listing. Here’s how the public will see it if all three are enabled:
If you see something, snap something!
At a SwapSnaps event, everyone is both a star and a paparazzi. If you see something, snap something. Someone will enjoy that moment being captured.
It’s local, physical space social media without bots or anger.
Powered by the Swap Stream, where every snap taken by anyone streams by you. Anyone can add tags, titles and captions. Click the tag “Fae” to see every snap tagged that way. Tag yourself whenever you show up and you have a custom guide to your weekend.
Put yourself out there
Powered by the Swap Meet, list your selfie, interests, any website links, maybe even your email and texting digits. This opens your swap DMs from anyone. But what goes on at WonderPlace Alpha stays at WonderPlace Alpha.
Now find someone with similar interests, then find them in real space and make a friend.
Buy some gifts
Browse the vendors list to make sure you don’t miss that one place you can’t resist. Even after this weekend, you can place orders for whatever you argued yourself out of but keep thinking about.
Chat with some QRs
Powered by the Swap Zone, flash a QR code. Anyone who scans it joins an anonymous dissolving chat using peer to peer messaging, without sharing any deets.
Your WonderPlace ticket got you an account
You bought ticket(s) with an email address, and each ticket has a 7 digit unique id (capitalization matters). Your SwapSnaps account is a combination of those two. If your email was jim@less2do.com and your ticket code was 123abCD, your SwapSnass account and initial password are jim+123abCD@less2do.com until you log in and optionally change your password.
SwapSnaps login
Don’t worry, we’ll email you a link as well.