Enhancing spontaneous interaction in opportunistic mobile social networks

Abstract

With the development of advanced mobile devices and social network services, mobile social network (MSN) has become popular in recent years. This paper we present a new perspective of MSN, the opportunistic MSN, which aims to enhance spontaneous interaction/communication among people that opportunistically encounter in the physical world, without any infrastructure support. We present the motivation of opportunistic MSN, explore its underpinning and the key concepts. Further, we describe our ongoing practice regarding to this emerging research area.