Geo-location
services seem to be the next new hot trend in the Social fabric that is Mobile
Social Networking despite its seemingly sinister implications, this according
to the program “CNET’s Buzz Report” posted March 12th 2010
presented by Molly Wood, CNET News as
well as in the video “CNET Loaded”, posted April 10 2010 by
Natalie Del Conte,CNET News.
FaceBook is testing this new concept
of including your coordinates (exact latitude and longitude!) whenever you post
your FaceBook Updates,
effectively allowing users of mobile phones to be able to be tracked as well as
track the locations of their friends.
Effectively
an incarnation cross-hybrid of FourSquare,
a Social Networking site that was developed by a former Dodgeball executive who
had pioneered GPS based Social Networking 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 and Twitter,
which is a micro-blogging site allowing 140 character post or “tweets” as they
are called.
It
seems that now even Google is
now in the race with Google Buzz
(finally!) after failing with previous attempts such as Orkut, and the much
hyped Google Wave, which
fizzled, proving that you just cannot “engineer” Social Networking, it has to
be based on grouping of people who have something in common that binds them
together.
Thus, FaceBook “peeps” are people who are
organized and involved, Twitter “Twitterers” are people who like others knowing
where they are and are mostly disorganized people,Hi5 people
are people who are mostly cheerleaders or fun-loving support people,FourSquare are people who own GPS
enable smart phones who like knowing where their friends are at all time.
The
common factor with all these Social Networking websites is that it involves the
use of computers (Desktops, Laptops and Netbooks) and smartphones and is geared
towards the interaction of friends who know each other and share the same
personal interests.
But
what if you could create a VAS (Value Added Service) that is a Social Network
using basic mobile phones that are not internet enabled and only have SMS
(Short Messaging Service) and somehow incorporate Geo-Location into the Social
Network, with the use of advertising to pay for the SMS and Geo-location
elements in such a Social Network and in the process be a source of revenue for
both the mobile customer and the Telecoms Provider?
What
if such a service could be implemented using Digicel Intunes as the launch
platform? It would appear with recent advance in Telecoms Provider Networks
that this will soon be possible, based on the article “Global
Positioning Without GPS” publishedSeptember 13, 2009,
11:30PM EST by Kevin Tofel Business GigaOM.
The
idea, which I shall call Brown Dawg is rather simple
but very easy to implement, even without the “secret sauce” algorithm from the
start-up GloPos. 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 (preferably Telecoms Provider Digicel’sData Center). This information of
course is to be used for the Geo-location portion of the Social Network and
would be collected by a company contracted by the Telecoms Provider to do so.
Then
software engineers would create the Social Networking website, which would
basically just be a tab in Digicel Intunes.
Persons who are regular subscribers to DigicelIntunes would be able to join
instantly and once they click on the tab, they can register their name and
other details much like FaceBook, Twitter and FourSquare as it relates to
themselves and their phones type, so that the service can be optimized for
their screen type.
The
Social Networking site would have an interface in which one can send “tweets”
or in this case “hail up” via either the websites interface or from the user’s
basic mobile phone interface using the SMS and MMS (Multi-Messaging service)
capabilities, if the phone also supports MMS, with mobile phone users receiving
SMS or MMS as answers.
How
it differs from a regular Social Network is how the Social Network website is
financed, which will basically be via the following types of advertising based
on the information that the subscribers to the service enter into the Social
Network site and opting into having advertisements for certain products and
services being sent or received by their mobile phones.
This
is a form of Behavioral Targeted Marketing 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 Mobile Social:
1. Website
banner Ads
2. Google AdSense Ads
3. Ring
back tune Ads
4. MMS
Ads
5. SMS
Ads
6. Call
Ads
Website
banner Ads and Google AdSense Ads
are not new revenue stream. What are new are Ring Back tune Ads, MMS Ads, SMS
Ads and Call Ads. In the case of Ring Back tune Ads, customers who join Brown
Dawg will subscribe to promoting a particular company’s products
or brands, for which a ring back tune, MMS video clip (still or moving
with/without audio) or SMS ad has been prepared by that company’s marketing
team e.g. Grace Kennedy, Red Stripe to name a few.
Based
on your mobile phone capabilities, such as EDGE or GPRS enabled, the customer
upon choosing which company they wish to advertise, their account is activated
on their mobile phone. Thus the obvious becomes clear: the usage of the mobile
phone to post “hail up” on the Social Network is only possible if the customer
subscribes to supporting advertising on their mobile phone on Brown
Dawg.
Such
customers, who I shall now refer to as members of the Mobile Social NetworkBrown
Dawg, would be rewarded each time with JA$100 bonus credit whenever
someone called them and the Ring back tune ad played. Members of Brown
Dawg are also rewarded whenever they send a text message, as the
recipient of the text message receives two (2) text messages or SMS, the first
one (1) containing a SMS based ad and the second one (1) being the original
text message that you sent, for which the sender receives JA$100.
Rewards
are also received whenever members of Brown Dawg send a
MMS message, as the recipient of the video clip (still or moving with/without
audio) receives two (2) MMS messages, the first one (1) containing a MMS video
clip (still or moving with/without audio) ad and the second one (1) being the
original MMS message that you sent, for which the sender receives JA$100.
Additionally,
members of Brown Dawg can also opt into another service
offered, in which businesses and companies can pay Telecoms Provider Digicel to have Call Ads randomly sent to
their mobile phones,
The
customer receives JA$100 for each call that they receive and listen to in its
entirety.
Thus,
thanks to this advertising model, all SMS and MMS messaging sent by members
of Brown Dawg is free, both from the
website interface as well as from the user’s basic mobile phone
interface using the SMS and MMS. This concept is very similar to how most
Social Networks are initially self financed using advertising revenue and Brown
Dawg is no different.
But
the exciting part is the Geo-Location bit. With the correct algorithm and
assistance from GloPos utilizing the information stored in the 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.
Geo-Location
advertising service can be offered to basic mobile phone users to not only find
the location of other users who are your friends and who have opted into
Geo-Location on sign up to Brown Dawg by using simple find
commands e.g. “find 18763810035”, which would tell you where the friend is
currently in terms of street, direction and distance
Business
places can pay Telecoms Provider Digicel to have advertisements about their
products and services sent via MMS, SMS or Call Ads, which is an automated call
made to your mobile phone selling you the company’s product or service.
Thus
once you pass within proximity of their business place or outlets, for which
you can opt into, much in the same way you can be a fan of a product or service
on FaceBookonly this time
around you would be paid JA$100 per ad received from the company or business
that you opted for this Geo-Location service.
In
addition, Brown Dawg would also alert you if a friend
of yours or someone you wish to avoid is nearby, once these friends also opted
into Geo-Location upon signing up withBrown Dawg and has
opted to have their location tracked by you, the alert being in the form of a
simple SMS telling you.
Eventually
other elements similar to other Social Networking websites can be gradually
added into the website such as popular online games such as Farmville as stated
in the article “Gameworld: A
virtual farm turns new ground for game developers” published Thu Mar
25, 9:48 am ET By John Gaudiosi, Reuters Yahoo! News
Traditional Telecoms Provider Digicel giveaways and other elements that
are good revenue turners, all advertisements content in terms of Ring Back Tune
Ads, SMS Ads, MMS Ads and audio recordings for Call Ads hosted in databases on Telecoms ProviderDigicel’s Data Center and all advertisements being paid for
using package deals with the relevant advertisements agencies or
businesses/companies who wish their Ads to be presented to customers via this
medium.
Thus
the Telecoms Provider Digicel has
the customer base to introduce this new Social Network initiative that would
not only put Telecoms
Provider Digicel into the
Social Networking game but also allow Telecoms Provider Digicel to make advertising revenue with a
site that takes advantage of possibly the largest Social Network that exists in
Jamaica, that being Telecoms
Provider Digicel’s own
subscriber base without customers having to resort to purchasing new smart
phones.
Eventually,
when Telecoms Provider Digicel launches it WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE
802.16d) Network at the end of the second quarter of 2010, effectively in the
summer time as suggested in the article “Digicel to
offer mini laptops with 4G service next year”, published Friday
September 4th 2009 by Lavern Clarke, The Jamaica Gleaner.
With
ZTE Corp of China as their build out partner of their new WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE
802.16d) Network as stated in the article “Digicel signs ZTE as 4G
Mobile WiMaX Internet Partner”, published Sunday,
September 27, 2009, The Jamaica
Observer.
Brown
Dawg can become the platform for their offerings to
users of their Network traditional GSM Network as well as their new WiMaX 4G
Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Network and push Telecoms Provider Digicel into making advertising revenue from
it large customer base, especially as the increasingly negative effects of the
Recession in the United States of America will continue to affect Jamaica for
the next seven (7) years
It
will result in customer’s reducing their spending on the purchase of credit,
making local calls and especially making international calls, the bread and
butter of all Telecoms Providers in Jamaica. This is now evident from Telecoms Provider Digicel making offers of JA$1 per every
minute of international calls (a figure that may be increased!) from abroad and
reminding people that they can have friends and family abroad top up their
phones via the various money remittance agencies abroad in a bid to
encourage people to keep talking.
However
this will begin to lose traction by September 2010 as people as more broadband
solutions, both wired and wireless become available to Jamaicans who will then
opt to call less and make more VoIP calls, a sign of the necessity of MNP
(Mobile Number Portability) at that point in time.
Probably
the only wrong with this idea is the name, which needs a little work……..
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