ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how multimedia phones connect people to society. It examines the most important ways in which society at large gets built into multimedia messages. The chapter shows that people make society relevant in multimedia messaging just as easily as in conversation. Society becomes a topic in mobile multimedia mainly through the media. Politics and economics are important for modern media, which follows these aspects of society closely. Mobile multimedia adds a new channel for social consciousness for people who care about society and want to change it. The most common institution that enters mobile multimedia messaging is no doubt entertainment through celebrity culture. Message 10.2 is one of the few examples in which people expressed their political opinions in multimedia. For most people in post-industrialized societies, political and social issues are matters discussed in the media rather than matters demanding personal involvement.
