Whatever you want to call it, both search giant Google and cellphone behemoth Nokia appear to be pretty interested in it. Google spent an undisclosed amount of money in mid-May to buy a startup MoSoSo company called Dodgeball, while Nokia recently launched a MoSoSo cellphone application called Sensor.
The idea behind Dodgeball is that you sign up and give the company a list of friends and up to five "crushes," or people you're interested in getting to know. When you get to a particular place - a bar or club, for example - you send Dodgeball a message and it tells your friends and/or crushes (within a 10-block radius) where you are. It can even expand your social circle by telling friends of your friends.
Matthew Ingram, "A friend finder for the young, single and socially mobile," The Globe and Mail, May 26, 2005
Typically, users set up a profile listing interests, hobbies and romantic availability. They also state what kind of people they'd like to meet. Because the service is tied to a mobile device, it knows when people with similar interests are near each other.
Daniel Terdiman, "MoSoSos Not So So-So," Wired News, March 8, 2005
Will need a critical mass to work (what doesn't?) and who knows what that's at, but I hope it catches on. Looks like a royal laugh.
Dodgeball (NYC only atm).
* Mobile Social Software, dahlings. Do keep up.
Alice Taylor, "MoSoSo*," Wonderland, April 13, 2004
bowling alone
flash mob
social bookmarking
social networking
social swarming
SoLoMo
text
thumb culture
tweetup
Web 2.0


