So Dopplr got funded and so I feel inclined to spend a little more time thinking about what I'd really like it to do, because it's a great concept.
- Events: Show me, in a structured way, why people are going where they're going. If everyone I know is planning on going to SXSW, tell me, and tell me where everyone who plans to attend SXSW is coming from. People have been trying to nail the relevant events thing for a while and if Dopplr could tell me what out of town conferences people were planning on attending, that would be a great dataset to show everyone--particularly the conference providers themselves. Who's coming for Day One, Day Two, or who's just in the area for other stuff
- Let the people drive the dates. I'm thinking about trips to Boston, Providence, and Toronto in the next month or so, but I'm kind of up in the air about it. Dopplr forces a date on me. Why can't I just say, "Sometime in the next month" and see if other people are planning on going at any time within that. Seeing that kind of data might help me narrow down my trip.
- Show me strangers... like, on every page. When you first join Dopplr, the user interface just doesn't show a heck of a lot of people. It feels like an empty place. I should be able to see who is coming to NYC in the next week, even if I don't know them.
- Combine with other profiles. I'm glad to see Reid Hoffman investing in this, and hopefully, when the LinkedIn API comes out, Dopplr will be one of its first developers. I'd like to see the LinkedIn profiles of people who are coming to NY and at the same time, the Dopplr intentions of everyone in my LinkedIn network.
- Dopplr Autopost: Before you build a widget that most of my RSS hungry audience is never going to see or use, allow autoposting of Dopplr updates to my blog (and yes, my Facebook). When I add a possible trip to Boston, even if I know the dates, I want a post on my blog to automatically appear that says, "I'm thinking about going to Boston soon... find out what dates and subscribe to my updates via my Dopplr feed."