Next2Friends has announced that it has successfully completed development of its mobile technology driven social networking site and is ready to launch the beta version of its services commencing Christmas Eve, 2007. Beta will run to the end of March 2008 when the site will then enter into full general release. The service will initially focus on 5 different but related offerings:
- Proximity Services
- Video Messaging
- Ask-a-Friend
- Live Video Streaming from any capable mobile device or webcam
- Online Video Editing
The Proximity Service is designed to automate the otherwise tedious task of online person to person network building by bridging the online “virtual world” and the physical “real world” thereby providing the potential for actual interaction. The service uses both Bluetooth and P2P WIFI enabled mobile devices to interact with a user’s online profile and record relative matches to other users they come into close proximity with (within 300 metres). At next log on, users are then presented with the profile matches they collected throughout the day. Businesses will also be able to use Proximity Services for demographic/
Video Messaging allows users to record a video message from any mobile device and or standard webcam and send it to their friends or contacts. In its most basic form, it is an interactively media rich email service via the Next2Friends site.
Ask-A-Friend is a rich media opinion polling service that enables users to take images to be sent and received by their friends via their mobile devices or webcams to create an immediate, real-time opinion poll. Offered in both a private and public forum, users can limit engagement to an immediate group of friends or make it publicly available to receive responses timed for their needs.
The Live Video Streaming service enables users to create and broadcast live video from any mobile device and or webcam to multiple end users. Video will be streamed through the Next2Friends website where users can view events as they happen. Furthermore, if multiple users are at the same event and broadcast on the same “channel”, end users will be able to choose between the different views and angles being broadcast. All broadcasts are saved within the users profile for later viewing or editing.
The further implementation of Live Video Streaming is the Online Video Editing service which will enable users to edit the incoming video in real time using Next2Friends’
