The mobile social network

Mobile data connectivity has been a slow road. Municipal Wifi did not catch on and the whitespace efforts have been jammed up by the NAB.  A report by Pew this year "shows that 62% of American adults have either accessed the internet wirelessly or used non-voice data applications, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, or recording video, with a handheld. On the average day, 42% of those with cell phones or other wireless-enabled handhelds use the devices for at least one non-voice data application."

Emarketer predicted in April "that over 800 million users worldwide will access and participate in social networks via their mobile device in 2012, up from 82 million in 2007.

Although the total mobile social network user base in 2012 will be under 20% of the worldwide mobile user population, it is likely these users will have a disproportionate impact on marketing, media and mobile communications because creating and sharing digital content represents much of the social networking experience."

An ABI report out this month shows a strong correlation between mobile social activity and users of Facebook or MySpace. 

From the report:

“The social network is increasingly becoming a central hub for communication across online and mobile domains for many consumers,” said research director Michael Wolf. “To a degree, it allows them to centralize messaging, communication and even digital media consumption through a centralized property on various screens. We believe this centralization of a consumer’s digital lifestyle through social networks will only increase adoption of mobile social networking in coming years.”

As next generation wireless technology begins to fall into place the desire for mobile data applications is sure to increase. Samsung recently demonstrated a new WiMax system capable of 149Mbps down and 43Mbps up, which would certainly be a game changer when available.

With the consumer desire and technical capability starting to line up companies are begining to aprove more demanding mobile applications.  One such company is Next2Friends.

From the site: "Next2Friends, the mobile social media platform, was created to deliver content and connections that entertain, engage and enhance life. Bringing together the full capabilities of both mobile and PC-based internet technology, the comprehensive suite of applications and features provide rich media, commercial and communication services to today’s connected consumer."

Next2Friends community provides the ability to do two click photo uploads and location based social networking. 

Key features include:

• Live – true, real-time video streaming from mobile device to web.
• Ask – opinion gathering and decision making on the move.
• Snap Up – automatic streaming of images captured while out and about.
• Tag & Meet – intelligent matching of virtual profiles in the physical world.

Mobile social networks will greatly increase the range of lifecasting projects like Justin.tv and Kyte.tv.  As more wireless providers preinstall applications like Qik and Zannel, sharig video elements of your daily activites is going to become even more pervasive.

Bluetooth vs. QR Codes

A Reuters article on mobile marketing highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of Bluetooth and QR Code marketing for mobile devices. Overall the carries don't like Bluetooth solutions because they don't require a data plan.

The carriers favor another method called QR Codes or Code 2D: "These bar codes, already used in Japan, are read by camera phones and send the user directly to a Web page. Accessing a Web site requires a subscription to a wireless Internet connection for which users usually have to pay."

Either method still has work to do to. "It (mobile marketing) has the potential to become a significant player in the marketing world as TV advertisers struggle to get people's eyeballs," says Jon Hudson, senior vice President of PC, automotive and consumer business units at CSR, "But it has to be more than 'your next McDonalds is 200 meters on the left'."

iPhone leads to jump in Google mobile usage

Reuters reports that since the introduction of the iPhone Google has seen a 40 to 50% jump in the use of its mobile services.

"We are seeing more and more mobile activity," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products, told a Web marketing conference in Silicon Valley. "I think this is sort of a sign that people are becoming savvier with their mobile devices, and that there are better devices.  The technology curve is catching up," she told reporters after the presentation. "The phones are just better."

Biggest and best mobile portals: inverse relationship?

Strategy Analytics has some new findings on "portal discoverability," (via  Go Mo News) which in a nutshell means "Just how much work is it to find something on your mobile portal?". Turns out Sprint/Nextel, our most troubled mobile operator, comes out on top -- and ATT (nee Cingular) dead last.

Service providers work awfully hard to get onto the carrier decks -- time for the carriers to start to care about the experience. Oh, wait -- I forgot -- we're talking about the phone company. What was I thinking?

Mobile Web 17% usage in US

comScore released new numbers on mobile web usage in the UK and US.  In the US 17% of the total 135 million web users also use the mobile web.

“Similar to the Internet 10-15 years ago, men under the age of 35 are the early adopters of new technology and more likely to use mobile devices to access the Mobile Web than women or men aged over 35, ” commented Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe.

“The Mobile Web is at an early state of development, but we expect Mobile Web usage to grow as phone performance improves, sites optimise their content for the small screen and operators fine tune their tariffs, enabling consumers to take full advantage of mobile phone capabilities, content and convenience,” Ivins continued.

In the US, AOL and The Weather Channel lead mobile sites. "The Weather Channel in the U.S. has a greater reach via the Mobile Web than it does via PC-based Internet, highlighting how the success of sites that provide content for people on the move by optimizing their content for the small screen." 

If any good can come from great evil...

Through history, moments of great adversity have often increased the speed of adoption of transformative technologies. Wars have given us widespread availability of radar, sonar and reliable wireless communications, Katrina drove expansion of the use of social networking and other self-publishing tools, and so on.

Will one outcome of the horrors at Virginia Tech be a sea-change in the adoption of text messaging networks? VT will join other schools such as Penn State in offering students the ability to register for text messaging, via offerings from vendors such as Rave Wireless.

But that's really the tip of the iceberg. What we should be looking at is the widespread adoption of text messaging for up-to-the minute alerting of critical news based on affiliation or place-based context... if:

• Carriers re-think their pricing models, and abandon the usurious surcharges for text messaging (by the message or flat-rate) that maintain it as a niche product for youth. In countries where SMS is dirt-cheap, volume is high.
• Carriers (or messaging networks) work with public safety officials to create more global opt-ins for messaging about public safety issues such as, heavens forbid, the incident at VT, an upcoming tsunami, a major hazardous material spill, etc. We still sit through those tests of the emergency broadcast system on terrestrial radio, after all.

Omnilert and M/A-Com have offerings that have enjoyed limited uptake. Time to get rolling on more widespread adoption.