Next Trend in Social Networking: Device to Enable Social Smoking
Companies are always on the lookout on new ways to engage with their consumers and create a community surrounding their products. Not long ago Nintendo advertised that the 3DS will alert you when there is a fellow player near by so you can exchange game data like characters and high scores.
Blu, the makers of electronic cigarettes (they emit nicotine-laden vapor instead of smoke) might get on the social networking wagon with a very similar tactic with the roll-out of their new e-cigarettes pack! The new packs will have sensors that will alert you whenever there's another Blu user close-by, within 50 feet to be 
exact. Even more, these packs will be able to exchange information with other packs such as usernames from networking sites like Facebook. It will also be able to alert you whenever you're close to a retail outlet that sells Blu cigarettes.
Jason Healy, the founder of Blu hopes that "you will meet more people than ever, just because of the wow factor". However, as with any emerging technology this has the potential to either be great or go under another failed attempt in the social networking world. While it's great that you will be able to connect with other there's always the chance of picking up unwanted attention. Blu is trying to avoid that by letting the user chose whether to ignore the signal, vibrating and flashing a blue light, from the pack or not. On the other hand, if you do want to meet this person and neither of you are currently smoking the e-cigarette it might be difficult to locate them. After all, 50 feet is not a short distance.
The founder adds that a later version of the pack will be tethered to a smartphone through an app, allowing more options for real-time communication and will also be able to track how much people are smoking and report it back to the user.
The new packs will go on sale next month for $80 for five e-cigarettes. They are reusable and will serve as a charger for the cigarettes. Are you sold on the idea?
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