Mobile social networks and urban public space

Abstract

The development and proliferation of mobile social networks have the potential to transform ways that people come together and interact in public space. These services allow new kinds of information to flow into public spaces and, as such, can rearrange social and spatial practices. Dodgeball is used as a case study of mobile social networks. Based on a year-long qualitative field study, this article explores how Dodgeball was used to facilitate social congregation in public spaces and begins to expand our understanding of traditional notions of space and social interaction. Drawing on the concept of parochial space, this article examines how ideas of mobile communication and public space are negotiated in the everyday practice and use of mobile social networks.It would be easy to believe that communication technology has always allowed people to overcome barriers of time and space. People have used the telegraph, telephone, television, computers and the internet to share information and interact across temporal and geographical boundaries. In some cases communication technologies have even encouraged the shift and acceleration of information flows. With the rise of electronic and networked technology, scholars have suggested that social interaction has become increasingly disembedded from the particulars of time and space (Giddens, 1991;Meyrowitz, 1985). People can use the internet and mobile technology to connect with friends and family from all over the world.While telecommunications allow people to connect with those far away, it would be an oversimplification to suggest that these technologies make local connections and relations unimportant. In fact, there is a growing movement to help people use telecommunications to connect with other locals. Services such as CraigsList.com, MeetUp.com and Plazes. com harness the power of the internet to facilitate connections between people based on new media & society 12(5) 763-778

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