The consumer web is making a comeback in a big way. So much so that the storied venture capital firm KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers) has specifically allocated portions of its war chest to the sFund (dedicated to social startups) and iFund (dedicated to mobile startups). Social and mobile are the two "next big things" in the consumer web. And guess what, they aren't distinct.
What does social even mean? Social at its core is simply communication. But, we can further segment that by differentiating between pure communication and contextualized communication. If you were curious, these are terms that I made up.
Pure communication is what happens when you call someone, text them, or message them. Only words are exchanged.
Contextualized communication is communicating around a certain external concept. In 2011 layman terms, I'm referring to "sharing." By sharing a video/picture/link with you I'm communicating without the need for words.
Ironically, in terms of human evolution, contextualized communication came before pure communication via grunts, and throwing sticks at each other, and literal, physical poking. Language came second. The web reversed that bit.
Pure communication wants to be mobile.
This is no surprise. We don't want to be constricted in our communication with people. This is why we have phones as our dedicated communication devices and computers that just happen to be able to communicate. But even making a phone call is often avoided in favor of sending a text instead.
Phone calls and emails bring with them formalities that will oppose the flow of communication. Communication is just that, a flowing exchange of ideas. Emails and phone calls, through no fault of their own, introduce friction that makes it harder to communicate. Emails have subject lines, greetings, farewells, and signatures. Phone calls bring an expectation to express more than just one idea.
Pure communication wants to be free and it wants to be mobile. Texting was a great solution, for its time, but costs are relatively exorbitant, character limits are simply limiting and delivery of texts are often slow. For these reasons and more, numerous services [GroupMe, Kik, Beluga, Text+, WhatsApp, BBM] have emerged to solve this problem.
Contextualized communication wants to be mobile.
By definition, we can only share what we experience/consume. Let's arbitrarily separate our consumption into 1) real life consumption and 2) digital consumption.
Already, smartphones have provided a mechanism to communicate our real life consumption. Smartphones have become the most ubiquitous digital cameras in our lives. Since they are always connected, they allow us to capture and share immediately.
The introduction of the tablet will completely revolutionize our digital consumption patterns. These are devices that are specifically tailored for consumption and media is slowly but surely being create specifically for them.
As we are increasingly consuming the physical and digital world via mobile devices, it's clear that sharing should also take place via these devices. And fittingly, we will then consume on mobile devices much of what people share via mobile devices.
Both component aspects of being social have clear motivations to become mobile. Pure communication wants to be mobile because of the freedom and the frictionless exchange of ideas. Contextualized communication wants to be mobile because we share what we consume, and our consumption is mobile. In conclusion, social wants to be mobile.
For those that think that Facebook won the social networking wars, you're absolutely right. They did. But the old construct of social networking is already getting dated. Social wants to be mobile. This next game is just getting started--though Facebook is starting with a huge advantage.
