FlapIt is a social media counter for businesses (and the self-obsessed)
If there was one thing we learned from ABC's Selfie (beyond the fact that America doesn't particularly dig Anglo-Asian rom-coms), it's that people can too easily get wrapped up in the validation and endorphin rush that come with getting social media kudos. That simple truth makes FlapIt's eponymous social media counter -- complete with old-school alarm clock-style flaps -- such a potentially potent tool for the terminally self-obsessed.
We kid, we kid. Mostly.
In fairness, it isn't actually meant for people like you with egos the size of mountain ranges. FlapIt hopes businesses will adopt it to show off just how amazing their Yelp ratings and Twitter follower counts are, not to mention use it as some neat-looking analog signage. Yeah, the business plan isn't the most convincing we've heard, either. The box itself is actually kind of clever; once it's plugged in, it starts pumping out a WiFi signal you connect a computer to. From there, just punch in the login credentials for one of the 11 popular social services the FlapIt supports, and voilá -- it cycles through a series of up-to-date social media counts with a terribly satisfying tickety-tickety-tick. Sadly, the model the team showed off here on the floor was just a realistic dummy, so I couldn't take it back to the Engadget trailer and watch our Facebook Likes roll in. Next year, maybe.
