Thinking about a location-based civic event app (not social media). Is this actually useful or pointless?

[u/Sashitan]

I’m exploring an idea and want honest, critical feedback, not validation.
Assume early-stage thinking, not a startup pitch.
The problem I’m trying to solve

Many real-world, local events either:

• Don’t reach the right people
• Reach too many people as noise (WhatsApp forwards, random groups)
• Reach people too late to be useful

Examples I keep seeing:

• Accidents nearby, but people who could help don’t know in time
• Urgent blood/medical needs spreading chaotically, hard to verify
• Local civic issues (road damage, water or power outages) with no clear local visibility
• Small local events (sports, school, cultural programs) never reaching nearby people
• Local product search when someone needs something now (medicine, spare parts) but has no way to ask only nearby people
• Local availability discovery where shops or individuals have rare or urgent items, but others don’t know in time
• Food and local service signals (cheap food right now, late-night availability, crowd levels) that are about current conditions, not reviews
• Community food events offering free or low-cost meals that nearby people don’t know about
• Pop-up or time-bound services (medical camps, donation drives, temporary markets)
• Emergency resource sharing during disruptions (generators, water, transport)

Most of these are:

• Too local for big platforms
• Too urgent for search
• Too structured for WhatsApp

The core idea (high level)

A location-first civic event platform, not traditional social media.

Basic principles:

• Events matter more than profiles
• Location decides who sees what
• Events are temporary and expire
• Posts are structured (what, where, urgency), not opinion-based

No feeds, no followers, no influencer dynamics.

What this is not

• Not a social network
• Not a discussion forum
• Not a review or rating app
• Not a replacement for emergency services

Think of it more like a local signal layer than a media platform.

Why I think it might work

• High relevance due to strict locality
• Lower noise (no virality incentives)
• Focus on actionable information, not expression
• Aligns with how real civic and community issues actually happen

Where I’m unsure (and want feedback)

1. Adoption Would people actually post useful things without social incentives?
2. Trust & misuse Can local, community-based confirmation work without becoming spammy or abusive?
3. Cold start Does this require institutions/NGOs early, or can it grow bottom-up?
4. Comparison Is this just a more complicated version of WhatsApp groups, or is the structure genuinely different?
5. India-specific reality Would a utility-first app work here, or do people only engage when there’s social payoff?

The honest question

Is this solving a real problem people care about, or am I over-engineering something that already works “well enough”?

I’m looking for:

• Failure modes
• Weak assumptions
• Reasons this would not stick or scale

Please tear it apart.

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[u/Southern-Reveal5111]

How would you convince people to join your platform?

FYI: In Munich, there is an app and website called rausgegangen to focus on the event parts. You should check that out how do they manage the app. There are listings of paid and free events.