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July 31, 2006
"Social Networking" is a Construct (part 2 of 2)
So if social networking is a communication construct in general, then what does it mean for the mobile space? Well, I think it becomes the context for everything that you do with your mobile phone. If “social networking” is the term that we apply to “communication evolved to include multimedia, presence and time shifting,” and your mobile device is a communication tool that now is multimedia and presence capable, then it makes sense that your mobile device is essentially becoming a “social networking” tool. It’s just that the interface hasn’t fully caught up yet.
But this is changing. T-Mobile’s 5 service (currently market testing here in San Diego and in Portland) is a great example of the next step in the evolution of the fully integrated communication device. With a graphical interface depicting your five most-called friends on what used to be your somewhat useless native handset main screen, T-Mobile’s 5 makes “social networking” your primary communication jumping off point by putting the address book front and center (instead of a clock, or…nothing.) 5 as currently presented only lets you define five people that you can call on any number on any network, unlimited. But the more they integrate it with other valuable network services, the more it will simply be the communication construct for T-Mobile subscribers.
Then it will evolve from there. Once the device is fully integrated and the network services are fully integrated, the mobile device will deliver your communication experience contextualized in the vertical flavor of your choosing. Messaging, voice, pictures, video, location, search, shopping, local directory and even gaming will be presented to the user within the construct of “social networking” because all that really means is “evolved communication” and it fits into a definable box which enables carriers and partners to deploy functionally differentiated services while maintaining a consistent user experience overall. Carriers can integrate with service providers of all sorts and add value to them by layering their 5-like interface on top of it.
Does this seem esoteric? It shouldn’t. This needn’t be complicated to the user at all. IM was an offshoot of chat, and it wasn’t surprising at all to me when Moviefone launched a bot on AIM. Now I never go to their website – I can get movie times through AIM, a communication construct that started as a way to chat with friends and evolved into the tool I use to access all information. (Or, as much as I can.)
Active UI is converging with multimedia communication which is converging with the convenience of the mobile user experience. You can call it what you want, but the defined construct of “social networking,” when applied properly in the mobile space, is going to unlock a category of evolved communication applications. Exciting stuff. More to come.
Posted by Shawn Conahan at July 31, 2006 06:35 PM
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