Disclaimer/Warning: I was an anthropology major.
Here’s my (very basic) observation: Meeting complete strangers online has become a very natural part of our culture. Obvious? Yes. But if you really think about it, its pretty remarkable: friends, sales, dates, jobs - nowdays people just accept meeting online as a part of life. It wasn’t always that way.
Through most of the late 90’s it was very UN-cool to say you met someone online, and only fairly recently has that changed. Now its neither cool nor uncool, its an invisible fact of our lives.
However, way back in the dark, command-line pre-mosaic days, I was living in Buenos Aires, and I met one of my closest friends for the first time - via a UUCP asynchronous satellite link from Argentina to the US. During that early period, it was AMAZING to meet someone online.
Jambo is attempting to create that same feeling - a new way of meeting, and its an unknown right now whether it will be cool or uncool. We have to create a sense of intrigue and surprise. Who is going to be near me when I open my laptop? A Jambo Moment. If we can create that feeling and create some truly amazing connections, then my bet is that it’ll be considered cool to meet someone through Jambo, and (hopefully) then as it becomes more customary, we will disappear into the cultural fabric.
OK, the anthropology hat is off now!