Courtesy Smack Social

Have you ever been invited to a bonfire in the canyon by your roommate’s cousin, only to arrive and see 11 other bonfires? Did you have to go from group to group asking, “Is somebody here named Rachel?”

Smack Social is an app designed to eliminate this exact experience. Its name comes from a group of jellyfish, which is is called a smack. Imagine a group of flowing, relaxed jellyfish floating together through the ocean. Doesn’t this make you wish your social planning could be the same?

Smack Social was born under the stars when founder and CEO Whitney Graham tried to plan a camping trip with friends. “By the time we had organized who was going, we had three different group chats on Messenger, text, Instagram — it was a hot mess. There was no service, people were trying to call me to get directions and I couldn’t get their calls, so half the group came late, they got lost. … We had no firewood, we had no marshmallows, so we’re literally scavenging for wood in Goblin Valley. There’s no trees … it was terrible. But it was one of those moments when you’re sitting around the campfire and thinking, ‘This is magical.’ You finally get everyone together, you have that moment of connection, but why is it so freaking difficult to get people together?”

“There is a very visceral need in our community” for help planning social events, said Smack Social co-founder Kent Broadbent. Provo is a college town, full of people who want to do new, fun things every other night.

As Whitney said, it seems impossible to do this over one text thread. You start with a group of three people, then somebody with a different type of phone is invited, so you start a new text group to include that person, then somebody else says they can’t attend, so you start a third group chat without that person.

Courtesy Smack Social

Smack Social, a social calendar app, mitigates all these problems for both hosts and invitees. As host, you can set details for events, limit attendance, make an invitation open or closed, ask for an RSVP (those who RSVP “going” to the event receive notifications leading up to the event that they cannot turn off without re-RSVP-ing “not going”), and you can add an exact location.

As an invitee, you can RSVP and get all the details in a single message — no more group chats with 16 people asking, “Wait, when does it start?” You can easily forward the invitation to more friends. No more Samsung versus iPhone issues, no more Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat texts.

Graham and Broadbent are currently on the lookout for hosts who need this ease of planning such as club and team leaders, local church leaders — individuals who love putting on events but hate scrambling to make them happen. Are you interested in putting Smack to the test? Do you love to host but hate trying to plan for 20 people knowing you will probably only have 10 show up? Download the app and give it a try. You just might find your social calendar more appealing.

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