Twitter is hot! Helio is making phones with social networking features aimed at the young market. The New York Times says today, after describing yet another player in this youth-centric phenomenon: “Central to the technology of Kyte and similar services is the marriage of mobile phones and the Web.”
Sooooo . . . .: We have youth, social interconnecting, mobile phones and the Web. It is absolutely confounding that so far almost no one mentions education and learning as the obvious missing element in the mix. I think education is the other shoe waiting to be dropped into the new way student-aged people all over our planet are exchanging information and communicating with each other.
On that subject, in the article in the article quoted above there is a a point made at the end which is very important. It belies the popular suspicion that what the kids are doing with phones somehow takes them into a dangerous public venue full of dangerous people and bad information. Beginning with a story about a Mr. Zai who kept in touch by mobile while on safari, the conclusion of the New York Times article points out that mobile communication’s excels when it is private:
John Poisson, chief executive of Tiny Pictures, said the service was explicitly intended to be private because mobile social networking works best and will be most lucrative if users know the people they are sharing with. “Exhibitionism will exist as long as there is voyeurism,” he said. “But we are in the business of helping people stay in touch with the people who are close to them.”
Of course, there is such a thing as being too in touch. Mr. Zai was disconcerted by the instant feedback to his safari photos that popped up on his phone.
“Getting all kinds of communication in such a remote place is a bit confusing,” he said. “I kept responding, ‘I don’t really have the time to talk to you now. I have to make photos of these elephants.’ ”
October 29th, 2007 at 2:28 am