Archive for March 14th, 2010

The Bluetooth Question

5Michael Rawlins • 14th Mar 2010 • Internet, Social Media • , , , , ,

I have just asked this question on Twitter,

Anyone got any experience / views on Bluetooth broadcast of information? Is it any good what’s the hit rate etc?

In my mind, bluetooth messages may have a use in certain circumstances, like at sporting or music events or where there are large groups of people. I think that it may work if it is from a trusted source, @BostinBloke pointed out his local ice hockey team use it during breaks, people who go to the hockey will know that they use bluetooth and will accept the messages & information. But just having messages being fired out to essentially random people is this a good investment?

I suppose you could say Twitter is just messages being fired at random people, the difference being that users have to opt in (follow a person) to see the messages and if they don’t like them they can opt out by un-following while still seeing messages from other people  With Bluetooth it is sort of an all or nothing scenario, you either have Bluetooth on or off.  You can’t decide that you don’t want to have a message from the childrenswear shop because you don’t have children but you want it from the pizza shop because you like pizza and you get special offers by Bluetooth if you are passing.

The other issue is security, how many people know of the security risks of having bluetooth on and visible? What are those security risks? A quick Google search shows that there are significant risks depending on what you store on your phone, which with ever increasingly smarter smartphones is quite a lot of personal information, not just about you but also your friends, family & colleagues.

So to expand on that what I would like to know is,

  • should organisations invest in Bluetooth senders to engage with people?
  • do you personally accept Bluetooth connections when you are walking round a shopping centre or wherever?
  • do you even have Bluetooth enabled and visible on your phone?

The biggest thing for me in all of this is, Bluetooth messaging is not social media it is just a way of pushing information out, it is not a conversation like social media should be.