Federated Microblogging, SMS, and Location

Erik Hersman
Dec 23, 2008

Federated Microblogging, SMS and Location, originally uploaded by whiteafrican.

The ideas represented here stem from thoughts on a post I did on my personal blog called, "Microblogging, Location and Emergencies" about the broader scope and coverage of mobile social networks in places like Africa.

"I don’t want to just get updates from random strangers in my locale. I want to only receive the ones that are “important” to me. I want to be notified when there is an emergency, major traffic jam or something else pertinent to me. "

It's about the ability to have multiple types of social microblogging and mobile networks anywhere in the world plug into something greater in times of emergency. A way for anonymous users to take part. It also talks to even bigger ideas and the greater impact in Africa of a real social mobile network that can connect people using only mobile phones and do it as needed.