Will Augmented Reality Penetrate Social Media?

Will Augmented Reality Penetrate Social media?

I would have to agree with this statement for a bunch of reasons.  First, the technology is finally catching up with AR devices in such a way as to be more effective by eliminating hardware issues in past AR devices, errors like: skipping, bad graphics and causing vertigo.  Another reason is that the enormous growth of online social interaction has shown that people have no problem sharing themselves socially online.  AR technology and its associated applications have the ability to allow people to expand their social landscape- which is appealing especially to Gen X and Y’ers.  

Another reason is that people can easily create and use avatars effective with AR technology.  Online site Smeet, for example, “is a unique 3D online world in which users can style and customize their avatar, chat in real time with other users, and play online games,” (Smeet, 2014). Sites like Smeet.com and others, which provide platforms for 3D virtual reality interactions with others already show a trend towards an AR dominated online social world.  What is so appealing about being able to create an avatar and then realistically (or close to it) live out an online life is that participants are free to express themselves or be whom or whatever they want?  

                One of the strengths of these new platforms is that you can create an online presence customized to whatever you want.  Also, the virtual games are more flexible in that your presence or avatar can be altered or changed based on a whim.  When Nintendo released the 3DS system, it was the AR technology that immediately made it in demand. 

However, the only holdback was that the technology still had a little ways to go, one of the weaknesses of this new gaming, (ENGLOBE, 2011). Some of the other weaknesses include the fact that some of the AR technology is still not available to people on the wrong side of the digital divide.  Also, these sites promote online contacts and can have an effect on someone’s ability to learn real life skills.  Unless of course, like in the movie Surrogates, we just get up and plug in everyday, it’s a little creepy to think about some of the possibilities of where AR technology will take us.  

References:

Virtual world, online world to play, chat and flirt in 3D | Smeet. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2014, from http://en.smeet.com/virtualworld

ENGLOBE. (2011, April 19). Mobile Gaming vs Portable Games Consoles: the case for Nintendo 3DS. Retrieved July 6, 2014, from http://arblog.inglobetechnologies.com/?p=290