This past Friday, I was finally able to get Apple to take my entire summer’s savings for an iPhone. After a year of regretting that I had not jumped on the first generation model, I had no choice but to take the plunge when the opportunity offered itself with the iPhone 3G’s July 11th release.
The wild mobile west
The acquisition of this new device has really opened my eyes to a new area of the web I’d only previously heard about, rather than experienced directly: the mobile web. It’s a vast, incredible, uncharted domain, with numbers growing at impossible rates and new innovations emerging with every step– and the Western world’s conception of ‘mobile’ pales in comparison to the technologies available in Asia, where authors write novels on mobile phones.
There’s only one sticky wicket to this tale of mobile promise, however: as with anything tech-related, the mobile web’s playing field is uneven, unpredictable, and unfair.
Personal, yes, interpersonal, no
ReadWriteWeb, probably my favorite blog, touts the iPhone as the new personal computer. I’m inclined to agree with them: it’s great for taking notes, checking e-mails and phone messages, browsing the internet, and more, all while entirely untethered from a home machine.
When it comes to the social web, however, the problems of home computer-based social networking are amplified even further.
An example: one of the first mobile social networks to be released for the iPhone was Loopt, the network that “transforms your mobile phone into your social compass.” It definitely looks super-slick, I’ve got to say: integration with Yelp, a fantastic map interface, and what appear to be robust social utilities. However, there’s only one problem: nobody I know owns an iPhone, and my friends that use cellphones don’t use Loopt. And the case is the same with Whrrl, Plum, zintin, and a myriad of other great-looking but narrow-reaching applications in the Apple store. They just aren’t being used by the people that matter to me.
What can we do?
Adoption of the mobile web really must jump so many hurdles: financial and time barriers, technical know-how requirements, internet and cell service limitations, the list goes on and on. So how do we even the mobile web’s playing field? Here are a few ideas.
- Go back to the past. If a technology isn’t obsolete, don’t build a social network around it. Right now, in the U.S., text messaging is pretty much universally available to those with the resources to be social and mobile (albeit unreasonably overpriced). Make SMS the backbone of the service.
- Be social with other mobile users. Perhaps the solution is to follow in the vein of iFob, a service that automatically introduces you to other iFob users using the same wireless network. A little unsettling, yes, but still promising.
- Integrate mobile and desktop into the same network. Just like Facebook for Mobile realizes, there are advantages to making your networks available to both mobile and non-mobile users. There’s no reason to exclude someone just because they’re not carrying an overpriced phone.
And even these solutions aren’t particularly promising; relying on antiquated technology, cliquish in-group networking, or anti-mobile mobility hardly provides a reasonable solution.
Until I come up with a suitable solution, though, I know what I’m doing: crossing my fingers, hoping that soon I’ll receive a new SMS or e-mail notification: “Your friend has joined Loopt!” Until then, unfortunately, I’m lost for actions, if not for words.
What do you think? Is the limited playing field of mobile social networking no disadvantage at all? Or is the entire area before society’s time?
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apple,
interpersonal,
iphone,
loopt,
mobile,
Personal,
solutions
Barriers to the social mobile web
by Andy DeSoto on July 21, 2008
This past Friday, I was finally able to get Apple to take my entire summer’s savings for an iPhone. After a year of regretting that I had not jumped on the first generation model, I had no choice but to take the plunge when the opportunity offered itself with the iPhone 3G’s July 11th release.
The wild mobile west
The acquisition of this new device has really opened my eyes to a new area of the web I’d only previously heard about, rather than experienced directly: the mobile web. It’s a vast, incredible, uncharted domain, with numbers growing at impossible rates and new innovations emerging with every step– and the Western world’s conception of ‘mobile’ pales in comparison to the technologies available in Asia, where authors write novels on mobile phones.
There’s only one sticky wicket to this tale of mobile promise, however: as with anything tech-related, the mobile web’s playing field is uneven, unpredictable, and unfair.
Personal, yes, interpersonal, no
ReadWriteWeb, probably my favorite blog, touts the iPhone as the new personal computer. I’m inclined to agree with them: it’s great for taking notes, checking e-mails and phone messages, browsing the internet, and more, all while entirely untethered from a home machine.
When it comes to the social web, however, the problems of home computer-based social networking are amplified even further.
An example: one of the first mobile social networks to be released for the iPhone was Loopt, the network that “transforms your mobile phone into your social compass.” It definitely looks super-slick, I’ve got to say: integration with Yelp, a fantastic map interface, and what appear to be robust social utilities. However, there’s only one problem: nobody I know owns an iPhone, and my friends that use cellphones don’t use Loopt. And the case is the same with Whrrl, Plum, zintin, and a myriad of other great-looking but narrow-reaching applications in the Apple store. They just aren’t being used by the people that matter to me.
What can we do?
Adoption of the mobile web really must jump so many hurdles: financial and time barriers, technical know-how requirements, internet and cell service limitations, the list goes on and on. So how do we even the mobile web’s playing field? Here are a few ideas.
Tagged as: apple, interpersonal, iphone, loopt, mobile, Personal, solutions