POSTED BY DAN YOUNG

During one of the sessions at a retreat following the World Mobile Congress, a group of mobile tech folks entered into a discussion about community and social networks. As points were made and ideas discussed, a theme arose that the concept of community has changed as a result of our technology.

Traditionally, communities were built around people interacting with others because they lived together, prayed together, worked together, etc. Each community had their means and method of matriculation into the group. Once a part of a community, an individual would follow rules, customs and behaviors prescribed by that community. If an individual's action went against their community, say if they did not help a neighbor or did not attend a ceremony, the community would hold the individual accountable. In the most basic sense, this is how bonds within the community are reinforced and maintained.

Today, our communities are disposable. Technology has allowed people to abandon their communities when their responsibility becomes inconvenient or no longer serves the individual. Traditional methods of accountability are no longer effective; bonds within a community are thus weakened. Communities therefore need a new approach. They need new methods and philosophies to maintain the bonds that hold members together; communities need a catalyst to change these trends.

Our discussion then explored how mobile technology can serve as this catalyst. We looked at ways individuals can use their mobile devices to provide positive reinforcement of community values and expectations as a alternative means of establishing accountability within the community. For even in this era of disposable communities, people still long for connectedness. Thus they use their mobile devices as a surrogate for personal interconnectedness. Therefore we, as the developers of the mobile ecosystem, can ideate around providing positive accountability for our communities.

We now have a much better sense of community after the WMC.