SURVENT

There is an interesting article on Time.com that I came across. The article is about mobile social networking. Oddly, a majority of the article appears to be more of a plug for some of the companies who offer the software or devices that enable users to network rather than non-biased information about mobile social networking. Check it out and decide for yourself.

What is mobile social networking, you ask? Basically, mobile social networking is using your cell phone to track your every movement in real time and then making your position available to anyone who uses the same software as you. Not just anyone can get your physical position as you have to grant access to those people you wish to be able to locate you. The idea is that your friends would always be able to see where you are and then catch up with you if they were in the same vicinity. The article starts out:

Your cell phone is spying on you, but don't be afraid. Thanks to better mapping technology and hyperlocal services tailored to the small screen, the latest wireless gadgets can automatically pinpoint your location and then direct you to everything from the nearest Chinese restaurant to where your friends are hanging out. And while it may seem creepy to have your phone keeping tabs on you even when you're sleeping, this isn't some Homeland Security nightmare. It's just an easier way to find people and places nearby.

This seems like a pretty cool idea, but do you really want your friends to always be able to find you? I do not know that I would. Social networking is cool and a good thing - I like to do it. But to always be located by people to the point that your friends just show up and say, "Hey, I was just in the area and saw you were here too so I thought I would drop by," just seems a little much to me. If I want to meet up with a friend, I just call them and see if they are available and where there are. It seems a little excessive to me to go so far that people can track you down, literally.

While this does seem to be something that is catchy and hip to do, I could see where the government could get the desire to begin to tap into the service and track anyone at any time. If the government really wanted to locate someone via cell phone, they can do that now without the software by simply triangulating the signal. This new service, however, could allow the govenment to easily track a group of people that may be "of interest," especially given that the group decides who is part of it. Do I think this will happen? Probably not, but it could. This mobile social networking will probably take off and be big business in the near future simply because it is something new and adds to the ease of keeping in touch with friends. I predict that there will be those awkward situations that arise where someone drops in on a friend at an inopertune time. Or you will find significant others tracking another when they suspect cheating and then a violent crime may arise. Who knows, maybe these issues will not arise as people using the services will be smart about who they allow access to their positioning and will turn off the signal from their phones whenever they do not want to be trackable. Any thoughts?

As the article states:

If cyberstalking your friends isn't your bag, you can still use your phone's GPS genius to find businesses or get driving directions on the fly. Sure, this option was already available on some phones without GPS, but it worked so poorly that hardly anyone ever used it.

Happy mobile social networking!

Here are some other links related to the topic of Mobile Social Networking:

Wikipedia definition of mobile social network.
Intercasting Corp's company blog has a

href="http://mt.intercastingcorp.com/company/blog/archives/anthem/#000124">post on this.

Fred Stutzman at Unit Structures says that he does not think that social networking will go mobile in 2007, but says it will happen.

YPulse

techscape.tv

Katie at GigaOM has a post about mobile social networking and says the U.S. is not ready for networking like they have in Japan - check it out.

Adotas.com has a post titled "Report: Mobile Social Networking to Reach 174 Million"