FAQ

1. So what is Plazes anyway?

   With Plazes you can now easily coordinate activities online with your friends. Whether it's initiating a spontaneous lunch date or coordinating a trip abroad, Plazes lets you and your friends update each other about what you are doing when and where. Never miss out on the good stuff again, because with Plazes you'll always be at the right Plaze with the right people at the right time!

2. So what is an activity again?

   An activity simply describes something you are doing (What?) at a certain place (Where?) and time (When?). It can be as simple as "I am at work now" or as elaborate as "I will be having dinner with Mari, John and 5 other friends at Sumo Sushi tomorrow night at 8 PM". Whether to initiate a last minute, spontaneous meet up or coordinate a night out with your friends, it's really easy to create an activity so why not go give it a try now?

3. What does activity have to do with Plazes?

   When you create an activity, that "activity" is immediately bound to a location (or what we like to call a "Plaze"). Put another way, you can think of a Plaze as an aggregation point where all activities take place. And, it is through the creation, participation and sharing of activities that Plazes as a service evolves.

4. How can Plazes help me coordinate activities with my friends?

   If you visit the website, or better yet, have the Plazer installed, you are regularly updated when your friends create new activities. If you want to take part in an activity, click on "Participate" and a copy of the original activity will be created for you. Use the "Spread it" feature to inform your friends about your activities and get them on board. Coordinating activities on Plazes is nothing like RSVP-ing to a black-tie dinner, it can be as simple as saying: "A beer after work - hell yeah, I'm with you on that!". Why don't you give it a try and create an activity for lunch or after hours at your favorite bar, and either go the serendipitous way and see who shows up or give fate a little nudge by spreading word on it to your friends.

5. I just joined, now what?

   You can start off by creating an activity and filling out your schedule with upcoming things you have planned for today, tomorrow or any time in the future. Once you've done that, get your friends on board. After all coordinating activities is no fun when you don't have anyone to do them with. You can find out which of your friends are already using Plazes by importing your Gmail or Outlook address book. If you don't have any friends on Plazes yet, don't worry you can also spread word on your activities to them by entering their email address. Once you've given the different features a few runs and feel comfortable with the service, why not update your public profile and explore the site to see who else is part of the Plazes community.

6. Can everyone see what I am doing where?

   How can I protect my privacy? On Plazes, you have full control over who gets to see your activities. You can choose between two types of privacy settings: Everyone and Your Friends. By selecting "Everyone", your activity will be visible to the public. If you want to have a higher level of privacy, set your activities at "Your Friends" and only your friends will be able to view them. You can either adjust the privacy setting for every individual activity, or you can make use of the default privacy setting to determine the privacy level for all activity creations. Why don't you give the service a few tries on a level that you feel most comfortable with. Once you've gotten a hand of Plazes you can determine how to use it best - just a tip, the chance of bumping into an old friend or meeting interesting people increases if you share your activities with others.

7. What is the Plazer and why should I install it?

   The Plazer is a little software application that you can install on your Mac OS or Windows PC. The sweet thing about the Plazer is that it automatically detects your location so that you can easily create activities directly on your desktop. You can also use it to get alerts on your friends' activities without the hassle of logging in to the Plazes website. A lot of our users view the Plazer as an easy, non-intrusive way to keep them and their friends updated about each other's activities.

8. So what else do I need to know?

   Once you feel comfortable with the service, why not try out some of the tools and extensions built to enhance your experience on Plazes. The Plazes text messaging service allows you to create activities while on-the-go. All you have to do is find a Plazes SMS number nearest you and learn a few simple command codes (For a detailed explanation on how to use the Plazes SMS service, check out this blog post: http://blog.plazes.com/?p=190

   For all you techies out there, soon you will be able to build your own Plazes applications. We will soon be releasing the Plazes API which is designed for you to make the most of activities within Plazes. It will be a RESTful API via http, so that means all information on Plazes will be accessible to you.

9. I have an idea, how do I get in touch with you guys?

   If you have any further questions, tips, problems or ideas, just drop us a line.