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User experience of social ad hoc networking: findings from a large-scale field trial of TWIN

Published:01 December 2010Publication History

ABSTRACT

Modern mobile phones have the capability to detect proximity of other users and offer means to communicate and share data ad hoc with the people in the proximity. TWIN is an ad hoc social networking system which offers applications for social presence, mobile multimedia sharing and ad hoc community-based communication. In this paper we present the results of a large-scale user study of TWIN. In this field study, 250 study participants used TWIN for nine weeks. Our aim was to investigate the user experience of social proximity-based ad hoc communication. We found that the users felt TWIN to be more fun and entertaining than a useful tool for achieving pre-defined goals. Furthermore, users appreciated the possibility to find and chat with both familiar and unfamiliar persons nearby. Privacy concerns did not rise as a significant issue in user experience. We argue that a system like TWIN has the potential of becoming a new social enabler in people's everyday lives.

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  1. User experience of social ad hoc networking: findings from a large-scale field trial of TWIN

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      • Published in

        cover image ACM Other conferences
        MUM '10: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia
        December 2010
        239 pages
        ISBN:9781450304245
        DOI:10.1145/1899475

        Copyright © 2010 ACM

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        Publication History

        • Published: 1 December 2010

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