Jay G.’s weblog

The Future of Social Networking

There is a service professing to be the future of social networking. The service named “E” was made by a Netherlands-based start-up. “E” is a service to exchange contact information using mobile phones instead of paper business cards. How it works is simple. “E” uses five-digit numbers to exchange contact information. When you meet a person you don’t know, you can see the five-digit passcode by connecting to “E” on your phone, and you can exchange contact information with her by showing your code to her and typing her code in the form of “E”. It’s not so heavy as paper business cards. You don’t need to cut down a tree anymore. Above all, you don’t need to bother to add every contact information on the business cards you collected at a conference to an address book. Every contact information is digitalized and stored in “E”. You can see that information wherever you are.

But there is more. “E” allows you to integrate many social network services. If you add your Twitter account to “E”, you can be a follower of Twitter by typing the passcode on your phone. Now it supports only Twitter, PICNIC, and Soocial, but Delicious and Last.fm will be also added soon.

This is not the first one of its kind. In LIFT Asia 08 which was held in Jeju, Korea last September, A Switzerland-based start-up introduced a service called Poken. Poken is a similar service to “E” to exchange contact information, but they put more emphasis on off-line social networking. Poken uses small keychain shape USB devices rather than mobile phones. This device exchanges data with sparkling when two devices high-five. It’s more intuitive than using mobile phones. The device is a pretty aesthetic, and it would cost around $3 only. Poken is currently in closed-beta, but it’s enough to attract people.

The problem is the service I’ve explained “E” also have a plan to make that kind of device. That’s why it reminded me of Poken when I first read the description of “E”. The device called Connector of “E” is a bit bigger than Poken’s, but the metaphor, exchanging contact information by touching two devices together, is totally same. To use “E”, you don’t have to buy a Connector since you can use “E” on your mobile phone. It could lower the adoption barrier of “E” which is the biggest problem of Poken.

Both services have a similar business model. The success of both depends on the number of users and the popularization of the device. It’s sort of a typical service relying on network effects. The CIO of Poken David Brown who I met at LIFT Asia 08 said they could release their device at high-profile events, or they could change the design of the device to use it as a promotion product. “E” also tries to sponsor high-profile events to release their device. However, Both of them don’t have any clear business model except selling the device.

Poken has the ghost mode to get other’s contact information without showing yours. But it doesn’t differentiate Poken from “E”, rather “E” which can be used on mobile phones seems to have a bright prospect.

I have three invitations of “E” which is currently in closed-beta. If you need an invitation, please leave a comment. Twitter is the only service you can integrate with “E”. If you come to Open Web Asia ‘08 tomorrow or WebAppsCon 2008 next week, you can meet me and give “E” a shot. :)