Students’ new best friend: ‘MoSoSo’ [Christian Science Monitor]

“Mobile Social Networking Software – the next wave of virtual community – is already appearing on cellphones, beginning with college campuses,” writes Gloria Goodale, staff writer of the Christian Science Monitor.

“Walk on a college campus these days and you’ll see cellphones everywhere, but only some being used for conversations. Baruch College sophomore Yelena Slatkina in New York City recently rustled up an emergency sub at work by typing a plea to her entire work group on her cellphone. University of South Florida sophomore Nate Fuller routinely uses his cellphone equipped with Global Positioning Software (GPS) to find recruits for his intramural football team and locate friends in Tampa, Fla. Texas 21-year-old Brittany Bohnet uses photos she and 20 of her networked buddies snap on their phones to locate one another, using visual landmarks they spot in the pictures they send.

These under-25s (the target market for early adoption of hot new gadgets) are using what many observers call the next big consumer technology shift: Mobile Social Networking Software, or Mososo. The sophisticated reach of cyber-social networks such as MySpace or Facebook, combined with the military precision of GPS, is putting enough power in these students’ pockets to run a small country.

But while many young users are enthralled with the extraordinary conveniences of what amounts to a personal-life remote control, others who have been tracking technology for more than a few semesters say that as the benefits of the multipurpose mobile phone expand, so do its risks. Not only do they point to possible security issues with GPS running on a cellphone, but cultural observers worry about the growing preference of young users to stay plugged into a virtual network, often oblivious to the real world around them.”

The long article also deals with security concerns and security benefits, and how the combination of mobile social networks with GPS has the potential to reinvigorate moribund civic areas, as demonstrated in Newark, NJ. On campuses MoSoSo has the additional benefit to get students out of their rooms where they were stuck using the Internet on their computers, back out onto the campus to connect with other students.

Read full story