Bang on. One of the most important things to emphasise when we’re developing the apps is that this isn’t necessarily an open platform in the way that Twitter is. This is exactly what I mean when I think about targetings – clarity of purpose and scope of audience.

I am hopeful that you will see the value in the changes we’re making to GeoChat once it is up and running. Basically, it will be Thuraya SMS to inbox. Security was my primary concern so we’re building in enough controls to ensure safety while minimizing confusion. The design is a plain vanilla app that does one thing very well. We’re trying hard to stick to the small app solves big/chronic problem equation.

I think one of the biggest problems today is that there are too many people saying too much. When I was introduced to InSTEDD and presented them with the type of app I was looking for I stressed that we needed it only to facilitate communication between the field Thuraya user and a selection of email addresses. Once the selected individuals receive the coordinates from the field user the conversation has begun and recipient of the notification will able to forward the message, send a text message back, or call the listed Thuraya number. “Are you ok?” can be typed in or phoned back. If the answer is “no” The Machine swings into action and protocols are followed. If the answer is “yes, just checking in” the receipient can reply with a simple “thanks, have a nice day”.

So, that is premise. I have great faith in the incredibly motivated folks over at InSTEDD. Eduardo is as driven as they come. I am looking forward to feedback from the both of you and your readers.

Many thanks!

“I’m scared but OK. Will phone when I can.”
“The house is damaged but the kids and I are safe thank God”
“does anyone know where we can get hot food?”
“we are going to try to clear the south rd. need more people. please spread the word.”

Of course there are more formal uses of Twitter as well. EQTW (http://twitter.com/EQTW) gives earthquake and Tsunami warnings. safeandwell (http://twitter.com/safeandwell), lets you Twitter your status to the Red Cross Safe and Well Website. Just send “D safeandwell FIRSTNAME LASTNAME #### STREET CITY STATE ZIP CELLPHONE” and a brief note about how you are. The Red Cross will then enter you into the system.

The big problem as I see it is keeping people off their mobiles during an emergency. Too many simultaneous “Are you OK?” calls quickly overwhelm the system. SMS lets people communicate but eases the burden on the system.

For more advanced uses of systems like Twitter check out Twitter tracking, useful for context analysis, and hashtags. I can see a use for hashtags like #logistics, #security, #coord etc.

So many ideas and so little time to think them through. Sigh. Back to work.