Mobile Computing and Social Networks Term Paper

Mobile Computing and Social Networks - Term Paper Example Mobile computing and social networks have increasingly become popular around the world. There are thousands of iPhone Apps, iPad Apps, and Android Apps that have been developed to perform a myriad of tasks and processes. These applications use mobile and web-based technologies majorly in turning communication into interactive communications and dialogue(s) among organizations, individuals, and communities around the world (Hinchcliffe et al, 2012). The fact that mobile computing and social networks have witnessed exponential growth within a very short period of time compared to other communication and business tools in the history of human beings is nearly incontestable (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). This fact is evidenced by the statistics indicating that while it took about 13 years for television to attract close to 50 million viewers and approximately 38 years for radio to attract nearly 50 million listeners, internet technology only took about 4 years only for to attract over 50 mi llion participants. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter much shorter time; about one and a half years to attract the same number of participants (Hinchcliffe et al, 2012). Mobile computing has witnessed a more robust growth in recent years. While initially most of the mobile applications were games that were intended for playing on mobile devices, they have gained popularity as businesses ponder whether some of their business process applications running on desktop platform and the Web can be redesigned to run on mobile devices that run on desktop platforms and the Web could be redesigned to run on mobile devices (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). In order to have a better understanding of mobile computing and social networks, this paper will discuss mobile-based applications and their various aspects relating to access and processing of data. The first aspect to address is in regard to the effectiveness and efficiency mobile-based applications provide to capture geo-locat ion data and customer data, and quickly upload to a processing server without users having to use a desktop system. Presently, there are numerous smartphones and iPhones that use applications and specific processes relating to mobile devices (Kumar and Rahman, 2012). Considering the advancements that have been made in mobile computing, as well as in regard to social networks, many companies around the world are making preparation for the use of mobile-based applications using tools that can capture geo-location data and customer data. Apple iPhone and Android smartphone platforms are the most used currently for this purpose and this has seen the huge expansion of their market. Available evidence indicates that these applications have been successful in capturing geo-location data; they have been successful in tracking driving behaviors, providing unbiased feedback during driving, and measuring acceleration among others (Dye, 2011).