Last February, I posted about an automated sensor/logger device by researchers at MIT for the purpose of automated real-time discovery of human social networks. As interesting as that device is - and the implications for smaller, cheaper successor devices - I believe that the trend toward increasing computing power, location sensitivity, and “friend discovery” tools in mobile telecommunications devices is going to blow right past specialty research devices.
Witness the Nokia Sensor. From wikipedia:
Nokia Sensor is designed to promote spontaneous communication between users in sociable settings such as bars, nightclubs and railway platforms, business functions etc. Bluetooth wireless technology is used to detect the presence of other suitably enabled mobile phones located within a radius of 10 meters.
Also the work of Dr. Nathan Eagle (at MIT, from whom I share the term “reality mining”):
My doctoral research at the MIT Media Lab used 100 mobile phones as behavioral sensors, programmed to continually log communication (call logs), movement and location (cellular tower IDs), and other people within 5-10 meters (regular Bluetooth scans). The resultant 400,000 hours of behavioral data provided insight into individuals’ routines, relationships, and the underlying dynamics governing aggregate behavior.
Let’s take this one step further. The soon-to-be-released SDK for the iPhone is going to open up the device’s accelerometers and GPS sensors to 3rd party developers, some of which is already turning into friend-finding / social discovery applications such as Whrrl iPhone application by Pelago.
The software begins with the user’s position on the iPhone’s map …[and]… shows the positions of nearby friends who have enabled a feature that lets them be seen by others.
While the mobile social network discovery applications so far are aimed at the device user, to help them find and share with their friends, this also means the consumer marketspace is quickly becoming saturated with devices that have the ability to automatically collect and construct complex pictures about dynamic real-life social networks.
This will present a tremendous opportunity for market and behavioral research, and potential danger from mobile device viruses and privacy loss. You can read more on the subject in the Technology Review article, “The Future of Mobile Social Networking“.
Bookmark This Post: del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Tailrank | Furl | Yahoo | BlinkList | Bloglines
Previous Post: 
Next Post: 