SMALL PRINT:JUST WHEN you thought social media couldn't get any more useful, it is now giving a helping hand to the basic human need of going to the toilet. Cloo is a New York-based geosocial network that solves a problem in urban areas of finding a clean, safe bathroom to use.

Seeking to launch next spring, the service aims to build a community of registered users who choose to share bathrooms at home for a small fee (“the cost of a latte”). Social networking by its nature makes the private public, and now it’s making private spaces public facilities.

As the video for Cloo puts it, they want to turn a “stranger’s loo” into a “friend of a friend’s loo”, given that ultimately, we’re all connected. The initiative is also hoping to partner with toilet paper and soap companies in order to keep bathrooms stocked without costing the Cloo member.

The Cloo app would allow someone who needs a bathroom to see which Cloo users are in the area, and which of those share social networking friends between users, and if they are at home. Obviously, security, safety and the general oddness of this application need to be overcome before it’s something that will take off.