mobile avatar communities
Last summer, I remember having a conversation with a UChicago alum about having a mobile community based on avatars as an upcoming trend. Now it is March 28th, and
NextGreatThing basically echoes that sentiment. With the huge popularity of avatar-driven social networking sites such as Second Life and Cyworld, it has only been a waiting game until mobile handset technology enables us to view and care for our avatars on our mobile screens.
CBS has just created an avatar-based game for the show, "America's Next Top Model." In partnership with Cyworld, NBC is launching an avatar-based game called Fancy, who is a character on the popular soap drama, Passions.
Avatars do create a more entertaining way to communicate and interact with others in a virtual world. People's vanity does tend to get them to care more about their avatars. One could leave a MySpace or Facebook profile as is for a long time; however, people do tend to change the look of their avatars just as frequently as they change their clothes everyday. With companies moving to Second Life as a way to reach the young tech-savvy consumers, bringing such capabilities to mobile phones is a natural step in the development of social networking communities.
As much as I said I would never bring Facebook, Myspace, or Cyworld with me through mobile, I must admit (and some of my other friends as well) that I would probably check these sites if I had a phone with an internet package. This was the case when I was in Europe. I had 10 minutes of internet time with my pay-per-use phone plan. I used all of it on the first day, and went back to get more credit to view online later.
vanity searching on serph
As another blogger on the web, I am always flattered when the rare website or fellow blogger mentions something related to me on that site. I'm sure many bloggers are aware of vanity searching as they try to claim their blogs on sites such as Technorati or Google Blog search. With
Serph, you can find out what others are saying about you or anything that you care about. Serph "surfs" (haha) through online social media such as blog search engines, social media websites, social news websites, and social bookmarking websites. It's almost like a Dogpile that searches through these specific sites.
With user-created content driving marketing this days, Serph serves as a pretty effective way to get the information I want about everything that I care about. What's the buzz about Google and rumored phone (which is apparently not happening)? When will Nokia's N95 come out to the United States? How about Sony Ericsson's new Walkman series phone? How is YouTube dealing with those copyright suits? Although the query for "social networking" got pretty mediocre results, search queries for specific companies and other names received good results. I guess like any search engine, you have to be pretty specific on what you are looking for. Otherwise, you're going to get a random and irrelevant website as a top result.
back in chicago
It's strange being back in America after spending 11 weeks in Europe. Although the fantastically warm weather helped me ease back into American campus life, I can already see some changes in the way I communicate with others. As I am now back on my plan with "minutes that I would somehow never be able to use," I find myself calling a lot more people again. Although I check Facebook just as often as I did back in Paris, I usually check it more out of boredom rather than trying to keep in touch with people. I am now incredibly active on Google Calendar as I feel that's the best way for me to keep track of all of my appointments, classes, and meals/drinks with friends. The option to send reminders via SMS was great until I realized that I got charged for receiving messages as well.
I must admit though. I do miss text messaging on my phone. Too bad I would have to pay a lot just to get an SMS package added to the family plan. I don't even know if I would even get the SMS package after college as many of my friends do prefer calling over texting especially with long distances. Many of my friends are relocating to New York due to jobs, and they will probably use email and/or Facebook to stay in contact rather than use SMS. I'm sure if I had a lot of friends staying in Chicago, texting would be a good alternative to staying in touch.
We'll see how this trimester/quarter goes. I do have a lot of friends who are taking leaves of absences and not taking classes, so I may never see them on campus. As I cannot call every friend who is taking leave, texting or email would be much easier.
social networking for social beverages
In a post long time ago, I wrote about how the Russians figured out how to integrate alcohol with online social networking.
Thisjustbrewed.com expands upon this concept by serving as a forum about your favorite beverages like coffee, tea, wine, and beer. It's almost like a Digg for favorite drinks where users submit stories and vote them up or down.
It's a very simple social news site, and it's still in beta. Whether this will succeed depends on whether the niche for social beverages is strong enough to build critical mass for a network. Otherwise, we will see this site in the forgotten piles in the back.
Utlimate Domain Name?
Apparently, the domain Social.com is for sale according to
Mashable, a social networking blog.
It almost reminds me of an over-hyped IPO. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but the auction could give anyone an idea of how valuable social networking really is. In all honesty, I think clever domain names such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are just more fun and original pseudonyms for social networking domains versus Social.com (how mundane). Young and tech-savvy people (like me for example) are suckers for fashionable and original trends. We like new and perceptive words to describe our social networking sites rather than overused common words like social and network. Besides, if someone said "Social me" vs "Facebook me," I probably would think the person can't speak English.
playstation's answer to xbox live
Last week, Sony has just announced their online capabilities of the Playstation 3 called "Playstation Home." It will be available in Fall 2007 at no cost (whatever that means...). Essentially it will be a hybrid of XBOX Live achievements, Nintendo's Mii's, and Second Life/Sims.
PS Home allows you to communicate with other people online with text or voice via USB keyboard or bluetooth headset. Similar to Cyworld, you can also customize your own little home with digital furniture and wallpaper. It isn't clear whether there will be some cost to this downloadable content; however, I'm sure the Sony folks saw the success (and huge profit potential) from social networking sites like Cyworld. Gamers do like accessories, and they do like to brag about their achievements. I can definitely see some gamers' homes as hallmarks to their "1,000,000th kill" on Halo multiplayer.
Let's think about this. It's been general knowledge that the console game industry is becoming a behemoth comparable to the movie industry. With all this hype about user-generated content, social networking is definitely coming to the console game. The target demographic for social networking and console gaming is similar. Users on both markets are young and net-centric. They also demand connectivity nearly 24/7. I can attest to this. When I was traveling through Europe for a week, I brought my laptop so that I can "borrow" other people's wi-fi networks if I didn't have access to the internet at my hostel.
Regardless, Europe was an interesting market to look at because social networking is not as pervasive as the United States. Although there is a significant social networking presence in the U.K courtesy of bebo, the rest of Europe has been slow to embrace social networking. It is starting to gain steam due to rising popularity and usage of sites such as SkyBlog and tillate.com. MySpace is also rolling out native language versions of its websites in various European countries, and they are already being extensively used by users in Czech Republic and France.
Another thing to note is that online gaming is very popular in Europe, especially for XBOX live. In every major electronics store I've been to in Paris, there are prominent displays of the XBOX 360 and its online capabilities in their console gaming sections. Even when my brothers and I meet up through XBOX live, it is very common for us to play with/against European players (as you can recognize them from various phrases of German and French).
Nonetheless, the popularity of online gaming may be due to the proliferation of broadband internet access in these markets. Let's face it, there is no way I would play Halo or Second Life on a dial-up connection. In high school, I accessed the internet through dial-up. I usually ended up going to my dad's office at RIT and using their broadband lines. Now that I went to college, my digital lifestyle has made me dependent on broadband internet, and I will happily pay $50 per month for this privilege after I graduate. Not only will social networking websites allow me to keep in touch with my friends who will move due to their post-graduation plans, but console gaming will allow me to stay in touch with my brothers as well.
Would I pay to "pimp" my home on PS3? Well, it is a cheap Blu-ray player after all. Given Sony's performance thus far (*cough* hardware issues and lack of suppy during launch *cough*), I will happily wait until fall 2007 and see for myself what Sony has come up with.
parisians could be a little cold.. but maybe Peuplade will help
It was really hard to meet Parisians while I was in Paris for the past 3 months. In fact, I technically have not met an actual Parisian. Most French people that I have met or have talked to were students who did not live in Paris since childhood. Unless you count the random French male that I met in Dublin who happened to live an hour's drive away from Paris, then I really did not meet any Parisians at all.
I've observed this for awhile too. Parisians are wary of outsiders. I do not accuse them of being discriminatory as I do understand the fear of being exposed to foreign ideas and cultures. Parisians are in their own worlds and seem to be very involved with themselves and their immediate social circles. They tend to be perceived as cold people; however, they are warm and friendly to the people that they do care about.
Of course, if every Parisian was mistrustful like that, it could be very hard to meet your neighbors next door. This is where
Peuplade comes in. This allows one to meet a person that you would otherwise never meet due to different ages and social backgrounds. The profile page does not include age, sex, or occupation. In fact, the profile page asks you questions in order to show the world what kind of personality you have. Your profile picture is not your photo but a reflection of you. Users are able to meet each other in cyber cafes and to discuss common interests. If they are comfortable with each other, they can arrange to meet in person.
It's a pretty simple idea for a social network; however, this social network iterates the significance of user-created content. People only flock to networks because there is useful information on these networks. To Peuplade users, the important information is about personality rather than demographics.
Another mobile social network I ran across...
Then again, it's probably about time that the U.S. market has some mobile social networks to sample.
Frengo is another mobile social network aiming to bring various forms of entertainment (i.e. games and other amusing forms of mobile content) directly to your mobile phone and get you connected with your friends through this network.
The website itself is very colorful, and I'm not totally surprise in the direction of this network. Games and other features from Frengo focus on what the targeted demographic cares about: sports (tourney pick-em), music and pop culture, as well as useful planning tools and easy integrated widgets for your pages on MySpace, hi5, Piczo and other sites. Frengo will be partnering with Boost Mobile to further enhance its features.
The challenge is two fold. One will be gaining the critical mass needed for the potential user to see this mobile social network as beneficial rather than a waste of time. The other challenge is based on the functionality and technology of current mobile phones. There is only so much you can use with SMS rather than the web. Frengo is based on SMS commands. Although this helps users bypass the exorbitantly high fees associated with internet access on mobile phones, there is only so much you can do with text. Although Frengo comes with free games, each Frengo game costs $2. There is also a loyalty program that allow users to win points and exchange them for items in the Frengo store.
Frengo is compatible with most U.S. mobile networks (besides Verizon for obvious reasons).
as my time in paris comes to an end...
It's interesting to see how people can change the way they communicate if put into a different setting and culture. It's also fascinating to see how I personally changed the way I communicate with my peers and environment.
For one thing, I was living here for less than 3 months. Like everyone who knows me, I really can't live without a mobile phone nowadays. It serves as my watch, my planner, my "rape whistle," and my contact to the outside world. Without my phone, I always felt like I was not in the group (and this was the case for many people in my program that decided to forego the mobile phone). I had to choose the prepaid option which was in retrospect incredibly expensive. Despite the fact I can receive calls and texts for free, it was pretty expensive to make calls (0.55 Euros/min). Since most Europeans choose to text anyway, I found myself sending more texts (0.10 Euros/text).
Here is the breakdown for my mobile expenses:
30 Euros for the sim card
50 Euros for calling credit
25 Euros for text credit
For a grand total of 100 Euros in 11 weeks, so around 40 Euros per month.
As 200 texts are a lot for 2.5 months, I would like to say that I used all of them and spend a significant amount of time texting people rather than calling them. Not because texting on a LCD phone is efficient (in which case.. not efficient at all), but for the fact it was much cheaper and effective (especially when you're trying to contact people in clubs).
Another thing, if I tried this entire prepaid plan again, I would've gone to a different provider rather than Orange. It was annoying to buy credit for SMS and talk time separately. Some providers just let you use your credit for both SMS, talk time, and internet access. This would've been a lot easier for me to keep track of as Orange's SMS account management is never up-to-date.
In terms of styling for mobile phone, I have to say that I have a taste for sliders now. It must be super-convenient to be able to receive calls and text with one hand. On the other hand, I am using my music player and camera on my phone a lot more for different reasons. Being on the metro for at least an hour every day required me to listen to music in order to keep myself from being bored. Everyone (Parisians and foreigners) listen to their IPODs or MP3 players in order to distract themselves from the loud trains.
As for social networking, it doesn't seem like French teens are as rabid as American teens on MySpace and Facebook. Then again, I just met a girl from the UK who is on Facebook and uses it extensively. The France network on Facebook is slowly growing, so maybe in another year, it will be a rage like it is in the United States right now.
facebook could really get you in touch with long lost friends
This is totally unrelated to my experiences with social networking in foreign countries outside the United States; however, it is funny when people tell me they get reconnected with long-lost friends over Facebook.
Basically, I thought it was silly and the probability of it happening to me is very small. But lo and behold, I get a message from someone I have not spoken to since high school. As a matter of fact, I met him at a high school Model UN conference, so we didn't even go to the same high school. Anyway, the heading of the facebook message was "surprise." (Note: For those who do not know what Model UN is, it's like academic debate but you represent countries instead of a particular position.)
At first, I didn't recognize the name (as the photo that was attached was not really a photo of him). Then I realized upon reading the first paragraph that it was this guy that I met randomly at the Model UN conference while sitting in the back of the conference room.
So yeah, small world. I actually emailed him back and hopefully we can catch up. I have some renewed appreciation for Facebook.
GotZapp - Mobile Social Network Launch
A new mobile social networking site launched today called
GotZapp. It basically lets users create mobile content with the "Ziranda" content creator. These profiles are called "Zapps", and they include images, animations, text and music. This content can then downloaded by other users and be rated, commented on and downloaded by other users. Users can send Zapp via mobile or through the computer.
What are the technical requirements?
Zapps will run on most phones released within the last few years. It must be Java-enabled (MIDP 1.0 or MIDP 2.0), data Connection and or data Service Plan (internet access), and be on a network that allows downloading of independent third party applications. (Sorry Verizon customers...)
You can also copy your profile content from many social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Cyworld, and TagWorld.
As last year was the year of social networking, this year social networking may try to extend its grasp on mobile users as well. With all the new 3G networking being installed and hopefully will run in the U.S. (and better handsets to go with it), I hope that I can start taking my social networking stuff mobile. The only problem is that data plans are so expensive in the United States (and along with actual phone plans... it may come up to at least $70 per month). On a student budget, this is definitely not a necessary cost. Unless the handsets come with Wi-Fi capability, then I guess this barrier will be non-existent. (Just don't be like the Sony Mylo with its terrible keyboard.)
results of "what to do when your camera gets lost/stolen"
After taking a total of 100 photos using my camera on my Motorola A1200, I do have the results.
50% came out okay (especially in the daylight)
50% came out really bad. Almost to the point where it's blurry and people look like ghosts.
What I learned from this:
1) Take multiple shots of the same scene. I took 8 of Gustav Klimt's paintings in Vienna. 1 came out good.. the rest were really blurry.
2) You really do need to hold still after the shot.
3) Daylight shots are the best.
4)LCD screen in direct sunlight is not best time to judge whether a photo is blurry or dark. I definitely made some photos too bright.
What was fun:
1) Playing with the settings. Taking black and white photos in Prague and Vienna was fun since the architecture called for it.
2) Watching people react to me taking photos with my phone. The Japanese people weren't too impressed (as they were taking photos with their cameras too..) Watching the locals look at my phone while they look at their flimsy flip phones and sliders was fun to watch.
3)After taking many bad photos, you finally figure out how to use a camera on your phone. I guess trying to figure things out is fun, but it would be nice if the camera had an auto-focus feature.
4) Although it cost a lot of SMS credit, sending photo mail was fun... too bad it cost money for people who received them as well.
interesting entry that i ran into
My friend has written an
entry about a web 2.0 idea that deals with dynamic bookmarks and customized web pages.
This brings an interesting point to the matter. There are so many social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and digg, but I could never get all the content that I would like to read or care about in a single web page. Browsing is fun and all, but I barely have enough time to read through all of my RSS/Atom feeds for both France, Germany, UK, Korea, US, and many other countries on the latest in social networking and web 2.0. In addition, it takes a long time for me to summarize and hit the key points for my blog and make relevant comments.
It's almost like when Facebook introduced the Feeds into the network. At first, people found it intrusive but then slowly realized that it makes one's time spent on Facebook more efficient and productive. (Of course, being on Facebook = productive depends on the person.) Although some customizing does exist on sites such as Yahoo! and MSN, you cannot really control the specific sources that goes on your page except for the themes you show interest for.
It would be interesting to see if anyone has (or can direct me) to product/page that has these features. I am definitely behind in all of my RSS feeds (as I have very intermittent access to internet while traveling).
