I guess it was bound to happen, social media is getting ready to take the next logical step; into the Real World.
Web 2.0
By now most people are familiar with the concept of Web 2.0 but for those who aren't, here it is in a nutshell. Web 2.0 took the static world of web pages (Web 1.0) and added the social and potentially viral nature of community sharing and bookmarking. Examples of Web 2.0 sites are MySpace, FaceBook, Digg and StumbleUpon among hundreds if not thousands of others.
Web 2.1
The social networking aspect of Web 2.0 sites quickly took the obvious next step of Social Media Alliances and voting groups. The purpose of these groups is to work as a community to introduce their members' content to the social media public. These alliances are frowned upon by the Web 2.0 sites, therefore, even though their existence is common knowledge, few will admit to participating in them.
Web 2.2
The next logical step for social media and networking is to bridge the online and offline world.
Introducing Next2Friends.com.
Next2Friends is a mobile based social network who's hope is to bring the best of FaceBook and MySpace virtual worlds into the real world. This paragraph from a promotional email describes how it works.
You set up a Next2Friends profile detailing all your likes, dislikes, quirks and everything that makes you who you are. Then, as you move about in the real world, if you have the Next2Friends software loaded onto your Bluetooth and or P2P WIFI enabled mobile device, Next2Friends will automatically collect and match your data to other Next2Friends users you came into close proximity with. When you next sign into your account you’ll receive notification of all the people you passed throughout the day who share your likes, dislikes, and yes, even your quirks. The rest is up to you! After a while you might find yourself wondering, “are you Next2Friends?”
So, as I understand it, you turn your Bluetooth or WIFI mobile device into a tracking beacon and at the end of the day you can see if that guy or girl you sat next to on the buss likes the same things you do. Hmmm...
Is anyone else starting to feel a little creepy?
I mean, if I'm seeing this about them, they're seeing it about me too. I don't want some guy with B.O. who doesn't brush his teeth regularly thinking we were made for each other just because he knows we both like the same band and enjoy watching football.
Can you see it now?
"Hey man, I thought you were going out to the club?"
"Yeah, I did. When I got there I checked my phone and there were only three girls there I had anything in common with and they were all ugly, so I just came home."
Granted, Next2Friends will offer some interesting features like the ability to stream live video from your phone to any or all of your friends, if it works. Another feature is Ask A Friend. It goes like this,
Say you’re out shopping for shoes and you find 3 really great pairs of shoes but you’re not sure which ones go best with your jeans. With Ask-A-Friend you can snap photos of yourself wearing all three pairs and then create an instant opinion poll to send to all your friends for a vote. The results are then sent directly back to you.
I can see some girl telling the saleslady, "I'm waiting for my friends to vote on my poll and tell me if these pants make my butt look fat."
They promise their network is secure.
Worried that this could become a way for people to track you throughout your day? Fear not! Next2Friends’ patent pending technology insures both anonymity and privacy via a highly secure implementation methodology and exclusive encryption algorithms so you will only be seen if and when you want to be seen!
Right. And credit card companies never get hacked either.
Next2Friends is scheduled to open Beta testing on Christmas eve and go live eight days later on January 2nd. It might be interesting but I think I'll pass for now.
I wonder what the next step will be. Any ideas?
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4 comments:
The guy/girl with B.O. is easy, just decline their inquiries. Turn on tracking when you want to be seen, turn it off when you don't want to. You control what you do with it. As far as that "creepy" feeling, sure, it's no "creepier" than when you realize that you are spotted on cameras dozens of times a day as you move about your daily routine. You leave a digital record of your whereabouts every day, why not make it work for you?
Ok, so you still don't like the idea? Don't use that side of the service. The live video streaming from any decent mobile device is worth it alone and remember: IT'S FREE! Next2Friends is just extending the capability of that little computer you carry with you every day, use it however you like!
If you want to give it a try and see for yourself during the testing/private demo period shoot me a message. I'd be happy to set you up.
Cheers,
Hans
Hans@Next2Friends.com
P.S. Thanks for the writeup:)
All this Web 2.x stuff is driving me crazy. You say that "Web 2.0 took the static world of web pages (Web 1.0) and added the social and potentially viral nature of community sharing and bookmarking", but this is nothing that wasn't there before. There have been forums, usenet, message boards, webrings and chat rooms long before MySpace. There is no such thing as Web 2.0, all there has been is an evolution of online communities to more widely encompass JavaScript and neat usability tricks. Online communities are nothing new.
Hey suckr...
It takes a lot more than JavaScript, sms and usability tricks to develop the mobile platform with real online integration. In fact it takes years of effort and detailed knowledge. Next2Friends is the first real example of such a solution.
anthony@next2friends.com
Hans - OK, I'm probably just paranoid. If I lived in a big metro I might be less sensitive. That's probably more your market anyway.
I'll freely admit there are parts of it that are new and interesting, maybe even ground breaking, I just don't know.
I think Next2Friends will probaby be a success. I think there is almost certainly a receptive market and I wish you all the luck.
You know, this blog has over 150 subscribers. If you wanted to provide a couple of beta invitations to give away here, we could try to help generate a little buzz ;)
Suckr - First of all, congrats on getting your link to show up ;)
I'm sorry but I disagree. Yes, there have been message boards and forums for years and they would probably be Web 1.X at some level but Web 2.0 allows each user, with one click, to share content with all of their freinds and fans who in turn (If they choose) can share the content with their own freinds and fans and so on and so on. Thus the social and potentially viral nature of Web 2.0.
The closest thing to compare would be the old viral email hoaxes. The old days did not provide the central content clearing houses like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon.
I'm sorry but in my opinion, saying there is no Web 2.0 is something akin to believing that a forum signature with a bunch of links is only a little javascript away from being a FaceBook page.
@ Anthony - Thanks for the input and good luck with your project :)
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