Uttering: social micro-blogging without the internet

This paper studies a new potential social communication phenomenon: social micro-blogging without the Internet. Social micro-blogs (called utterances) are assumed created on mobile devices and shared between peers using direct wireless transmission rather than using any network infrastructure. This combines two emerging issues: opportunistic networking architectures are making it possible to "store, carry and forward" such content while trends in social media and self expression such as micro-blogging have become increasingly popular. We address the problem of obtaining content of personal interest through social micro-blogging without the Internet. This is a challenging problem because generally speaking, content cannot be pulled from its source on demand. Consequently intelligent techniques are needed that allow content to be pushed between groups of users. We introduce a community-based approach that allows content to be pushed to those who can derive utility from it. We explore the robustness and performance of this approach which builds social networks through which relevant content can be pushed using epidemic-inspired mechanisms.