A New Way To Meet People and Build Your Network

Check out Tripl, a social networking way to meet new people.

When you are new to an area or just visiting, it can be hard to know where to go or what to do. Especially if you travel frequently by yourself, you may find that it gets lonely pretty fast. The problem is that once you isolate yourself, it becomes even harder to find new people to hang out with or ask for pointers about the area.

Having a strong social and professional network is crucial in a job search and it's something you should try to work on throughout your life, not just when you have a need for them. A new startup social networking company is hoping to help people make connections based on the area they are in.

Tripl makes going to a new part of town or a new city an adventure. You can meet new people in the area based on lots of different criteria and begin networking right away. You can access the Tripl site directly or you can even integrate it with your Facebook. Then, you can invite your friends and get started meeting new people right away.

Of course, I'm not sure how great it will work. Early reports have been positive, but I guess I am too much of an introvert to really be able to enjoy this. For me, meeting new people is tough and I don't want to feel obligated to hang out with people I met on the app. What if I don't like them? What if they don't like me? Although, the more I think about it, the more I realize that maybe that is exactly why I should give it a try. With enough practice, meeting people might become easier.

The other problem I can see being an issue with this type of service is that it is only as good as the number of people who use it. Because you can filter your search results based on any number of things, there has to be a large pool of users scattered across most of the country. Otherwise, it will only be successful in certain areas.

In any event, it will be interesting to see how well this social networking and travel app works. I just might give it a try. Who know, maybe next week I'll be telling you about the lunch I had with some prominent movers and shakers in the publishing world.

Would you use a service like this? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManhattanJobsBlog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.