The Boss had his flight to NO cancelled earlier today but will not let the snow stop him from getting to Mardi Gras. I am currently driving in Georgia right now with 3 other brave souls. I figured it was very appropiate to write my blog post for the week on mobile social networking by writing this via my blackberry(it might get a little choppy).
While on the 18 hour drive to NO I decided to read The Mobile Social: Not ready for Prime Time? By Caroline McCarthy and A Wireless Street Fight by Anita Hamilton. Both articles were about what's supposed to be the next big thing in mobile media: GPS like location based services. These devices are capable of locating who/what is near and around you via your mobile phone and are expected to push mobile social networking.
I, however, do not think that devices such as Yahoo's "proximity alerts" and Hello's Buddy Beacon will be the next big thing in mobile social networking.
Currently, I think there are too many technological, distribution, and most importantly privacy issues facing this relatively new mobile technology. I don't think that most consumers will be comfortable with disclosing their exact location even to most of their friends. I think that knowing the exact location of someone without them directly telling you is a little creepy.
Another concern I have for the success of this new product is that I'm not sure if there is a market for this mobile technology? This is a pretty expensive product and can be substituted by mapquest for the most part minus the proximity alerts. You can only use these location based services if your friends have it too which is another reason this technology will have troubling entering the prime time.
In the end, I think location based services will be another fad and not a revolutionary mobile media tool but I guess only time will tell.
Alrite, its snowing in Alabama right now...not cool. Bosssssssssss OUT.
I think the proximity alerts/location based application could be valuable. Since the U.S. population is aging, there are more people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and they could benefit from such a device. With the device and notification, we would be able to get to them quickly and might save their lives. This also applies to elderly people in distress.
ReplyDelete[Playing devil's advocate here]
ReplyDeleteI don't think this location sharing technology is going to be a fad at all. I believe it's just the start of a new craze that may lead to more sophisticated technologies with higher capabilities (which at the end will creep us out even more). Tons of cellular providers have integrated GPS location sharing devices into their phones and I feel it will catch on.
I don't see the elderly using these devices due to the fact that most old people are so out of the touch with technology and against change.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I'll say my famous motto...."Not because we can means we should do something". I really don't favor this new technology. Locating me or others without permission is crossing some security boundaries for me. But most technologies start with our military, for example the GPS. I believe that these technologies were targeted towards the armed forces. And because they were so successful, these technologies are then offered to us.
ReplyDeleteBoss, congrats on making it to the NO. It was certianly more than appropriate that this weeks post was written from your blackberry. Definitely think mobile gps has its concerns, most importantly the privacy issues which it raises.
ReplyDelete