Social Networking is based on experimentation, not producing a finished product, with changes to the API (Application Interface) of Facebook being based on user trends, direct feedback and negative Social commentary from it legal battles with privacy advocates, disgruntle users
Thee Government of the United States of America complaints about it website’s API open ended privacy settings and its handling of user data, all part of its rich and currently tumultuous history thus far as stated in the article " Facebook's follies: A brief history" published May 13, 2010 4:00 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News - The Social.
Indeed, as of writing this article, Facebook, my home away from home, is facing a growing user backlash as supposed legions of people are apparently planning to defect as stated in the online news report CNET Buzz Report aired May 6th2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News (CBS) and hinted in the article “Facebook users reveal risky details”, published May 6 2010, 10:38 AM PGT, by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Security.
Facebook is a work in progress, as building a Network of friends or friends of friends is not a science, as Google learned the hard way after the failure of Google Wave and Orkut prior as stated in the article “Google struggles with Social skills”, published February 3, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Caroline McCarthy and Tom Krazit, CNET News - Digital Media.
All of their previous attempts to woo people to join a Social Network that seemed too engineering-ish. Google did eventually succeed with a UI (User Interface) tweak to Google Mail (Gmail) called Google Buzz as stated in the online news report CNET Buzz Report aired February 11th2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CBS, CNET News.
On the face of it, is really a copy of Yahoo UI tweak that integrates their Yahoo Messenger into Yahoo Email but goes a step further by including an API similar to Facebook, micro-blogging one hundred and twenty (120) character text structure like twitter and geo-location features like Foursquare.
Foursquare is a start up which people have been suggesting AT&T should purchase as their Social Network is heavily tied to GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) mobile phones such as BlackBerrys, Apple iPhones and Google Android smart phones.
All of which depend on the Customer or Subscriber having a 3G Data Plan on their Network as slyly proposed in the article " Time for AT&T to buy Foursquare", published April 26, 2010 9:14 AM PDT by Matt Asay CNET News - The Open Road.
Google Buzz then faces its share of backlash similar to what Facebook is experiencing now, when it made all the information on the Social Network public to expedite the process of people buying into the idea of Google Buzz.
Specifically by making everyone’s information in their Gmail accounts public by automatically connecting you to everyone in you Gmail email account as stated in the online news report CNET Buzz Report aired February 18th2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News (CBS) and confirmed in the article “Buzz backfire: How google pushed me to Facebook”, published March 5, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Stephen Shankland, CNET News - Deep Tech.
But curiously enough, most people do not seem to mind the revelation of private details on their Facebook accounts, owing mostly to the fact that most users are well aware that Social Networking sites pay for hosting via advertising based on the sale of user information to third party advertiser as stated in the article “Study: Like it or not, behavioral ad targeting works”, published March 24, 2010 9:01 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News – The Social.
A reality even in Jamaica, far removed from California as is the case with Triple Play Provider FLOW and the recent publication of phone numbers in Telecom Provider LIME’s directory as stated in the article “Privacy Breached - FLOW clients railing against Directory Listings”, published January 31st 2010, the Sunday Gleaner by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Already people love their Google Buzz and Facebook accounts so much that user backlashes usually die down as most people are already used to having their private lives exposed in minute-to-minute detail on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, unique among Social Networking sites as stated in the article “Why no one cares about privacy anymore”, published March 12, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Declan McCullagh, CNET News - Politics and Law.
Social Network sites are very good at what they do: connecting people in real time and allowing for real time conversation with friends with whom they may have lost contact with during the passage of time or who now live in distant locations and are too expensive to text or call long distance via the traditional Telecoms Provider.
Facebook even introduced a VoIP service via a third part app provider called Vivox that allows VOIP calling for free (for now!!) as stated in the article “Phone calling coming to Twitter”, published September 16, 2009 4:46 PM PDT by Daniel Terdiman CNET News - Geek Gestalt.
Now Facebook has implemented the geo-location concept where mobile smart phone users can post their GPS latitude and longitude into their Facebook status updates as stated in the article “ Facebook wil allow users to share location”, published March 9 2010, 1:44 PM by Nick Bilton, the New York Times and CNET Buzz Report aired March 12th2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News (CBS).
Currently there are three (3) know means by which a mobile phone, be it an ordinary GSM or CDMA phone or a smart phone with a data plan enabled can give away the location of its user and that is via having a GPS module such as the BlackBerry Storm, Apple iPhone
Google Android – based smart phones have, triangulation using two (2) towers which works for ordinary phones but is only economical on CDMA Network due to its high spectral efficiency or triangulation using a single tower as revealed by the article “Global Positioning Without GPS” published September 13, 2009, 11:30PM EST By Kevin Tofel, BusinessWeek - GIGAOM.
How this last means of triangulating your position can be done is the stuff of legends and much research by a technology startup owned by company 4TS and financed by an unknown angel investor.
The startup, named GloPos, it is run by a pair of Telecom Provider veterans Mikael Vainio and Alexander Le Bell with decades long experience from Nokia and Ericsson who both have developed a Mobile Triangulation technology that enables precise geo-location using legacy handsets, eliminating the need for smart phones with built in GPS as stated in the article “Global Positioning Without GPS” published September 13, 2009, 11:30PM EST By Kevin Tofel, BusinessWeek - GIGAOM using only one (1) cell tower.
It basically involves taking ultra precise measurements of every cell tower in a Telecoms Providers Mobile Network and storing that information in a database specifically the dimensions, angular orientation and precise GPS location of the cell tower, from the base of the tower up to the antennae (Agisson or Andrews) in the crow’s nest atop the tower.
This information is then placed into a database. Then whenever their arises a need to find the location of a mobile phone or device connected to the Telecoms Provider Network, be it a GSM or CDMA Network, their Mobile Triangulation Server would send a data packet of 100 kb in size from its Server to the last know location of the mobile phone as reported by the MSC
Based on the time the mobile phone takes to return the signal as well as the precise GPS location of each tower, the sector and the angular of orientation of the radiation flux produced by the radiation lobe pointing in the direction of the mobile phone, the exact location can be found with a precision as good as and even better than a GPS and faster too
The processing of the signal data takes only milliseconds or just as much time it would take to “ping” and IP address using the ping command in DOS. Sounds simple enough, as it is spectrally efficient uses only one (1) voice data channel and one (1) tower on a Telecoms Provider Network and despite it proprietary roots is easy to replicate, dramatically lowering the cost of implementation.
It is transmission technology transparent and can be used for relocation applications for both CDMA and GSM networks, albeit the most obvious application is its usage to implement Foursquare without the need to have GPS and using SMS as the means of communication interface with the customer.
Therein lies the crucible wherein my idea takes shape, which is a Mobile Social Network named Brown Dawg whose integration into Digicel InTunes and financing via are Ring Back tune Ads, MMS Ads, SMS Ads and Call Ads I have already described in a previous published blog article entitled “Brown Dawg, a mobile Social Network site based on mobile phones”.
The idea of a free BlackBerry offer called the CrackBerry Christmas Crazy GiveAway Promotion which I had also mentioned in another article I had previous published blog article entitled “BlackBerry Bashing - The phone I hate so much that I would give it away for free” could be combined to introduce a solution to keep users interested in being members of a Mobile Social Network, that being a Mobile Survey Application called Project A So Di Ting Set. Despite the rather longwinded introduction, this initiative is rather simple.
On sign up for Brown Dawg, the customer can opt in not only to be able to send and receive Ring Back tune Ads, MMS Ads, SMS Ads and Call Ads for various advertising clients e.g. Grace Kennedy, Red Stripe, Sagicor, etc., but also to answer surveys for each company that they opt into supporting.
Thus not only will the customer be able to receive JA$100 Loyalty Credit for other mobile phone Customers and Subscribers hearing their Ring Back tune Ads, receiving MMS Ads and SMS Ads whenever they send an SMS (Text Message) or use their MMS service i.e. email.
With attachments and receive and listen to in its entirety Call Ads sent randomly as well as based on geo-location i.e. customer passing near to a place that they like or for whom they have opted to receive Call Ads from but also they can complete a Mobile Survey Application form online at the Digicel InTunes site, via SMS or via WAPDigicel site.
For each successfully completed survey which will be sent at random to the customer, they will receive JA$100 Loyalty Credit. This is a very simple indeed, with Telecom Provider Digicel being able to use the service to gauge the effectiveness of their Broadband Network and avoid user backlash, a phenomenon common to the iterative nature of Social Networks, with the feedback being to more effectively make changes before they generate negative publicity.
Thus yet another additional can be made to the Brown Dawg Mobile Social Network that would endear all of its members to the company by adding yet another way by which Customers and Subscribers can receive Loyalty credit from Telecom Provider Digicel as part of the launch of WiMaX 4G mobile (IEEE 802.16d) and the introduction of Digicel Broadband to their loyal Customers and Subscribers as stated in the article “Digicel to offer mini laptops with 4G service next year”, published Friday September 4, 2009 by Lavern Clarke, The Jamaica Gleaner.
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