Facilitating information sharing and social interaction in mobile peer-to-peer environment

Recent advances of mobile devices and RF-communication technology have made it possible to form peer-to-peer connections in mobile settings. Mobile peer-to-peer communication is a radical change to the traditional (wired) peer-to-peer computation. In this research, we build a system to facilitate information sharing and social interaction among users in a mobile peer-to-peer environment. This system enables users to express their comments and opinions on attractions (or points of interest) in a certain area. Comments given by one user are made available to another when they get close. Opinions are presented in aggregated form, using collaborative filtering algorithms. A user study is then conducted, and the results reveal that, by using the proposed system, users can receive useful travel information. Also, the conduct of sharing information triggers various types of social interactions among mobile users.