CoronaFriends

A simple messaging board to quickly interact with new friends, in isolation.

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Inspiration

This project was created to help fill the void left by social interaction as people around the world are socially isolating. As humans, interacting with other humans is vital, and we thought that a way to quickly chat with new people in an interesting way would be helpful to many.

What it does

CoronaFriends is a message board designed to bring people together quickly. Users can log in quickly with Google, then start chatting with other users through their posts, or make a quick post about something they want to chat.

How we built it

I used Firebase to build this project, and it was huge learning experience. I had never used it before, but I have had some experience with server less functions as well as full-stack development. All the posts are saved into a Firestore database and retrieved through a function running on Firebase.

Challenges we ran into

Finding ways to easily get people talking to each other was more difficult than I had though it would be. I found a way to create an empty Google Hangout and then the URL is linked on the post. This makes joining a call extremely quick, and it doesnt require users to add each other or do any extra work. However, if a user wants to make a post that links to something else, like a NetflixParty link, the links can work for that too.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting a full website with an authentication system, a (passable) frontend and a decent backend with basic functionality working in a limited amount of time.

What we learned

I learned a ton about the Firebase platform in and full stack development in general.

What's next for CoronaFriends

Getting users would be a good first step. In terms of functionality the posts definitely should expire somewhat quickly, and more categories should be created depending on what people are using. More integrations with outside services like Steam for gaming that make it really easy to connect and do something with people would improve the experience. Building a real chatroom into CoronaFriends would enhance the experience as well.

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