In light of my last post , let's consider some examples of non-tech social experiences that can serve as inspiration for innovating new social media technologies. I'll list a few of the ones I've been thinking about. Feel free to comment on this. This list certainly isn't exhaustive...or without error.

Everyday social interactions and existing corresponding technologies...

A group of friends watching a TV show together
Nothing.. Now that we have PVRs everything has changed, socially speaking.  Who watches shows at the same time anymore? Why not host them like video games and invite your friends to join? Microsoft is in the best position to do this. They already have Media Center and Xbox Live VoIP. More on this in another post. PARC has blazed this trail a bit.

Teams of people meeting around a conference table
Sorry I have to wave the HP flag here. HP Halo is probably the best solution in this space so far. Halo is a high-definition video conference studio that started as a joint project between HP and a Hollywood studio. It's impressive. I've been using Halo to collaborate with colleagues in France and it blows me away every time. It really is like sitting across the table with someone on the other side of the world. It does, however, have a serious potential competition from Cisco so you can expect continued innovation here.



Two people having a dinner conversation
Nothing. I don't think there is a technical solution that replicates the non-verbal and verbal communication of an intimate and informal dinner conversation.
I guess long distance relationships will continue to be that way for a while.

People standing at a party, having a face-to-face conversation
None. This would be like Halo, but less corporate. It's like the dinner conversation, and could be the same solution, but party conversations are different - you're standing up and moving around a lot. I could imagine this being a vertically-oriented mirror on the wall of a house. You could stand in front of it and talk to someone in another room or country.

A pickup game of basketball or soccer
Xbox Live. This is a great example of simulating spontaneous social sports using technology. The sports parallel is very real to me and I have to watch a TV show after playing just to calm my nerves before heading to bed.

Flipping through a photo album and telling a friend a story
Everyone and their brother.  There are truck loads of story telling solutions and I will never have time to try them all. Even so, I have not found a solution that integrates both photos and videos and let's me tell a story as easily as pointing at photos in an album and talking.  Every solution has the feeling that I'm "building something" and it feels like work. I have much more to say about this, but I'll save it for a future post. I will say that the tools are getting better, evidenced by the latest tools at PhotoBucket and startups like Tracking Shot (disclaimer: the founders are friends and former coworkers).  I'm sure folks will have suggestions of sites to check out.  Do tell.  I'll check it out and post a review if it's noteworthy.

Board games
I don't know this area well, but I suspect Parker Brothers and others have tried to do this, but not successfully enough for me to knwo about it. I know online Chess is well trodden ground, but I would think there is still potential in this one. Comments?

Passing notes in class
Text messaging.  But what is SMS missing?  It's such an simple technology (which is probably why it's so effective) yet attempts to improve on it have failed - think MMS.  What would you improve in SMS messaging?  If you're idea meets an unmet need, you might have the next big thing.

These are the kinds of things that keep me awake at night.  If I could capture the essence of that social interaction without tripping over the technology, I could really have something.

Flickr photos by stuartyeates and mattneighbour