Social networking has the potential to nourish communities and dialogue around topics rather than focus on pages of personal profiles. As well, community action online can be available to the global population by avoiding as many technological barriers as possible.

We at freeFormed took notice of the trends of online social networking and media sharing and felt that there were significant problems, not only in the structure and architecture of many of the more popular sites, but in the aspects of social networking communities that place importance on the quantity of connections, rather than significance of relationships. We also took note of trends in mobile development and noticed a gap between technological advances and their function within the online community.

FreeFormed is bridges this gap by encouraging the use of mobile phones to participate in online circles of conversation, emphasizing media as the point of connection rather then arbitrary definitions of identity. Encouraged by the success of current social sites, we see new and exciting ways to facilitate connectivity and a sense of community online that have the potential to expand social networking to social activism.

Utilizing the traditional use of the phone (voice) and recent mobile phone technologies (text and media messaging), freeFormed organizes multiple forms of media (voice, pictures and video) around circles. We are expanding on the social circles that form in the physical world around topics of interest, inviting multiple perspectives in one topic. Additionally, freeFormed links a user’s common interests throughout the site, creating a new form of the personal profile that is generated by what users do (i.e. what circle they participate in), rather than a description entered on a profile page.

WHAT WE NEED:

FreeFormed.net would benefit most from user growth. The life of the project will thrive as more people use it and its many applications are revealed. We are looking for those that are interested not only in contributing financial investment, but community involvement. For example, in late March and early April we began work with New Orleans Xavier University through a grant attained by New York University. Although the collaboration did not gain freeFormed any financial assistance, we were able to see the use of freeFormed to document a very specific social, economic and geographical situation through the eyes of college students and nonprofit organizations in New Orleans, LA, post Katrina. This experience is as valuable as any funding the project obtains to.

Location