I had a chance to try out a new service in the mobile social software arena recently. Fotochatter allows you to "narrowcast" photos from your cameraphone to your friends and receive SMS notifications for comments left by your friends on your pics, as well as get SMS alerts when friends post new photos so you can comment on theirs in turn. If your phone supports Java, fotochatter can run as an application, but is also available as a WAP site if your phone isn't Java-enabled. The service is unique in that it's explicitly trying to capture the "in the moment" aspect of cameraphone photography, as opposed to services like Flickr which the fotochatter founders describe as embodying more of a "storage worthy" mentality. They compare it to the difference between email and instant messaging, in that IM is seen as a more transient medium that evokes a certain spontaneity not as evident in email, which is somewhat more concerned with enduring information.

Fotochatter, then, is focusing on the communication and immediacy aspects of photo-sharing, and the relatively simple, uncluttered interface lends to that ideal; I found the service to be dead easy to set up and use. It also escapes one of the traditional pitfalls that has hindered other MoSoSo offerings in that it removes the location-based aspect from the equation, making it easier to get past the "empty room problem." I don't have to wait for someone else who happens to be using the same service to wander by so I can detect them — I can just invite my friends wherever they are, and they can participate in the network via SMS. Being personally a big fan of "moment-mode" mentality, I can imagine having a lot of fun continuing to use fotochatter, assuming I can entice some critical mass of friends with cameraphones to play along.