Increasing use of 3G mobile phones can change the way people communicate and create new social trends and tribes, claims the first ethnographic survey of 3G use across the UK, according to Future Laboratory. The BBC reports.

… “Researchers identified a range of new behavioural patterns among those using 3G phones, which were free of charge for the duration of the study.

… As well as offering bloggers the chance to post instantly to their own sites, researchers saw 3G phones used as a counterpoint to retailing, socialising, and as a tool for documenting their lives. Some of the groups identified.

– Social gatekeepers: Using 3G mobiles to keep friends up to date via a social network

– Piratopians: Creative outsiders who use 3G phones to make short films and other broadcasts

– High Street hedonists: Use phones to show off new purchases, take pictures of items or asked for instant opinions from a dressing room

The report’s authors dubbed the new generation of mobile phone users Generation C, with C meaning content “.