The Unintended Consequences Of Skype

Culture

from the and-so-it-goes dept

It appears that the NY Times has finally discovered Skype, but their article does make a few interesting observations concerning not just the purpose of Skype but how it’s been used in unexpected ways — mainly for strangers to call each about just about anything. Calls from foreigners to Americans for the sake of English practice are apparently quite common. There’s also a story of people looking for local info for a vacation they were planning. It’s always fascinating to see how these sorts of unintended uses become more popular — but, as the article notes, many are likely to go away as the service gets more and more popular, and the spammers and scammers move in (which is already happening). While I’ve been skeptical of Skype in the past, the ease of use of the service has won over many. It seems to have really touched a nerve for the ability to build a community. Still, there are plenty of challenges for the company going forward — and business models may be the biggest.