http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/03/66813?currentPage=1

In this Wired article, Terdiman discusses MoSoSos or mobile social software which could potentially make a huge cultural impact on our lifestyles. Mobile social software is the technological confluence of social networking tools and either Wi-Fi connection location or global-positioning software. MoSoSos facilitate social encounters by identifying the real-world geographic location of a mobile device (cell phone or laptop) in real time. To put it more simply, it instantly enables you to find like-minded people in your area and at that time for social or business networking. The article runs through a number of different services including Dodgeball.com, Jambo, Playtxt and discusses how each works to connect users.

Unlike online social networks like Friendster and LinkedIn which are relatively passive, MoSoSos are a geographically mobile solution, allowing people to connect with affinity groups or find new friends while on the go. Although there are some privacy and safety concerns, it is clear that the idea is quickly catching on and is spreading by word of mouth. In the UK, Playtxt is very popular and the Google owned dodgeball.com is the US equivalent. The stickiness factor is high, especially on college campuses. For example, Washington University in St. Louis is signed up as a Jambo customer. This means that all university students logged into Wi-Fi hotspots on campus can view others’ profiles and communicate and connect with those members. An initial wireless communication through the digital network can often lead to face-to-face meetings with people of similar interests who you would have not met otherwise.

MoSoSos are directly related to the ideas of closure processes and social-affiliation networks. The MoSoSo network of people is a social affiliation network in which we can consider nodes of two distinct types. There may be some nodes that represent people and other nodes for the activities that these people engage in. The activities may vary from participation in the mobile social network itself to other activities such as the interests and hobbies that people list in their personal profiles. Focal closure or the tendency for new links form between two nodes which engage in a shared activity appears to be at the heart of the operation of a MoSoSo network. If B and C represent people who are users of a mobile social software service (activity A), it is likely that when B and C are in the same vicinity at the same time, they will each be alerted of the presence of the other person. If B and C have both listed rock climbing (activity A) on their profiles, then the likelihood of each of them being notified of the other’s proximity, their decision to meet and ultimately the development of a friendship edge between them will be much higher. Thus, friendship edges develop between members of the network because of shared common interests.

We can look at the network in another way. If A is a user of dodgeball.com (activity C), A’s friend B may also become a member after hearing about it from A. This demonstrates affiliation closure (based on homophily). This is also the way in which the technology spreads and certain ideas catch on quickly. Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point refers to this as the stickiness factor.