2009 The Year Of Mobile Social Networking

One prediction I have for 2009 and the future of social media is the development and adoption of mobile social networks. What mobile does for social networking, if done correctly, is it effectively and seamlessly connects online relationships with offline experiences. The most popular features of social networking, like Facebook events, already do just that. With mobile social networks though, this can be accomplished with a lot more immediacy. There is the argument that online social networks causes people to become isolated and relinquish their need for real human interaction, but I think it actually enhances it. Once you are able to move outside of your house with these capabilities, I think this medium will begin to reach its full potential.

eMarketer released a report yesterday claiming there is major growth in mobile social networking. Overall, the number of people who accessed social networks from their mobile devices increased by 182% from September 2007 to October 2008.

FEED: The Razorfish Consumer Experience Report

Gerd Leonhard of Media Futurist points to the 2008 Razorfish Consumer Experience Report. This is a very thorough overview of social media and how it relates to the consumer.

Some main points from the report: *denotes my commentary

MySpace Enters Mobile Video Ad Space… Backwards

MySpace announced today they will be delivering video to mobile phones by streaming those videos through MySpace Mobile. The video service is free and will be supported by advertisements. While it is great idea by MySpace to move into the mobile video and mobile advertising market, they are walking in backwards from an ad perspective. Do they really think a mobile phone user will sit through a pre-roll ad before their :30 second video?

The Silicon Valley Insider has a report from TubeMogul that concludes “most people don’t watch web video for more than 60 seconds.”

Now, I am willing to bet that these numbers are drastically lower for mobile video. If a person sitting in a chair in their office does not watch a video for more than 60 seconds, how long do you think the person waiting for the bus is willing to watch a video? And if there is an ad before that video…not very long.

Wikitude

Video of the T-Mobile G1 runnning Google Android running Wikitude. Using the phone camera, Wikitude takes the user’s geographical coordinates and tells the users what they are looking at through the display.

EXTRA: Google Android G1 phone selling better than expected…via TGDaily