Cell Phone Anthropology
The Economist looks at some interesting facts on how the global masses use cell phones :
- Industry leaders expected people to embrace video telephony, which flopped, but failed to anticipate the success of SMS text messaging
- 60% of men carry phones in pockets, 60% of women in handbags... that's why more women miss calls rummaging to find the phone.
- 80/20 rule - the typical user spends 80% of time communicating with four other people.
- Communications technologies used in distinct ways:
| Land line phones | Used for "public" phone calls that are relevant to office or household |
| Mobile phones | Used for last-minute planning and meeting coordination |
| Texting | Intimacy, emotions, efficiency |
| e-mailing | administration and exchanging docs, pictures, media |
| IM | continuous channels |
- Most advanced users of communications technology are Migrants, not Geeks. Dispersed families use the internet to communicate cheaply with their relatives and get news and music from their home country.
I had to turn off my Plugoo I/M widget on both my sites TheHarper Team.com and Open-Secrets.com.
Each site had one person (different people) that were bugging me day and night with endless chit chat.
I'll turnb it on again in another week. What zI need is a blocking feature for computer IP's
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Chitchat spam that doesn't end... I'm amazed - - - I do like Plugoo because it's tied to Google Talk...
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"...80/20 rule - the typical user spends 80% of time communicating with four other people..."
Hence the calling circles the big cell phone service providers are using to bring in new customers.
Whose in your top 5???
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