Habermas once wrote, and I am not quoting here: Rationality exists in the structures of interpersonal linguistic communication rather than the structure of either the cosmos or the knowing subject. In other words: everything exists in the realm of intercourse, social intercourse. The easiest representation of how the latter may start and end is the address-book.
Many years ago I looked at the address-book in my mobile and sighed.
It was a time when Mobile operators had this desire to push more services at their customers in order to gain some brand differentiation as well as extra revenue. It was a time when Myspace was starting and booming, Facebook was a zygote and Orkut seemed like a good investment.
So I looked at that address book and sighed. Everyone’s now fighting for address-book hegemony but at the time no one was really looking at it. I thought of Habermas and the fact that not only is rationality derived from social intercourse, but irrationality as well. Emotional bonds based on experiences. If only one could connect those address-books in a meaningful way?
I had my address-book in my handheld. The same machine I used to take pictures with. To write small notes. It was all within easy reach of the mobile operator. So why did they miss it? Why did not listen to the plethora of highly paid consultancy work they were sourcing globally? Why did they let an east-coast teenager steal the show? I tell you why: because operators never understood the potential of the word SHARE.
Face it, mobile operators are warehouses with billing machines attached to a network that still charges a fortune for 140 characters. They’re unidimensional in their business model.
People will pay to communicate but they won’t pay to share. Myspace came along and showed us that sharing should actually be free. Facebook just made it more intelligent and clean and suddenly, what started as nothing more than a glorified pubescent address-book in ones computer, to share images and thoughts… is now slowly becoming a communication giant.
The same address-book i had in my mobile all those years ago. Sigh. Hundreds of consultants telling operators they should open more innovative sharing channels… Now, now it’s all too late for you operators. My mobile is built by a manufacturer who has understood there is as much value in a relationship with a google, or a Facebook or a Twitter, as there is with an Orange or T-mobile.
Charge us a flat rate for data intercourse you communication pimps! That’s all we want. All we need is some bandwidth. We are starting to communicate by sharing in real time. My Facebook address-book is more important now. Foursquare will tell me where my contacts are so i can meet up with them in person and speak with without getting charged extra for it. Rather spend the money on a beer than your over-prices voice calls.
And to think you had all those address-books at your mercy all those years and have done nothing creative with them… Shame on you.
A wasted opportunity indeed. I would not be too quick to count them out though, they still own all the strings that hold our contacts together and its only a matter of time before they start rejiggering everything to their advantage. Witness the Google/Verizon net neutrality proposal.
So now that the interactions between those in my contacts are out of my control, how long now until my address book becomes more integral to society than I am?
It’s much harder – but not an excuse – for big companies to think with clarity in game changing scenarios, than for a single bright guy. Perhaps this is a simple example of how things are changing, perhaps we really only need – as you say – more bandwidth and less premium service: so hard it is to loose the grip on control – this is “ageing”.