Social networks meet next generation mobile multimedia internet [Guest Editorial]

With ever growing popularity and widespread adoption of mobile social applications, the traffic handled by mobile networks and the Internet has grown significantly. While researchers have been making advances in the study of social networks and independently in the area of next generation wireless networks, very little attention has been given to the interplay between the two, and their impact on each other and society. The challenge of the interplay between social networks and mobile networks is compounded by the fact that advances in smart handheld devices and those in wireless technologies have paved the way for increasing bandwidth catering to very high data rates. Sophisticated social applications such as Second Life, and those involving 3D and real-time data can take advantage of such advances. It is entirely likely that such advances in turn could lead to novel social applications not yet thought of. For example, new social applications could emerge in the area of social health or social games with new forms of massively multi-player, multimedia, 3D, and role playing games.