This Businessweek article makes social networking on mobile devices seem mostly anti-social. Instead of spending time with friends or paying attention at work people are spending their time in mobile chat rooms and searching for new friends to communicate with by text message. Many carriers now offer some access to mobile social networks that charge $2.99 and up per month.

Social networking making mobile push

By BRUCE MEYERSON

Gina Reno’s friends don’t expect much eye contact from her when they get together. More often then not, she’ll be staring at her cell phone, tapping away feverishly with calloused hands, communicating with people she’s never once met in person.

“My friends would get so mad at me because I’m constantly with my phone in my hand,” the lifelong Chicagoan said of her tendency to log in to a service called Hookt on her Boost Mobile handset whenever she’s got a free moment. Fortunately, Reno added, her pals “have gotten used to it. They say, `Ah, let her alone. Just leave her alone in a corner with a phone.’”

Now, if only her employer was so understanding: “I get in trouble at work all the time. My boss has to yell at me to put it away,” said Reno, 36, a sales representative for a magazine subscription marketing company.

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