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Mobile: The Monetization Platform for Social

Posted by Nick O'Neill on May 20th, 2008 4:02 PM

Josh Catone has a great post up about mobile social network usage according to a survey completed by the mobile browser, Opera. The numbers are staggering for Opera. A whopping 41 percent of all mobile browsing is to mobile social networks.

The most surprising numbers in Josh Catone’s article was the incredible results being generated via ad campaigns on mobile. According to the article, “UK ad-supported mobile service Blyk, for example, saw an amazing 29% average response rate on ad campaigns — with one campaign — for a book, no less — receiving an incredible 67% response rate on the service.”

These sorts of response rates are phenomenal. Whether or not these numbers will continue as mobile social networking use increases is currently unknown but considering the horrendous response rates on sites like Facebook, mobile may just be the answer. I’ve been predicting continued growth in this space and I wouldn’t be surprised if the large social networks start turning more of their attention to mobile.

I currently use my phone for a substantial amount of social networking activities. I read my messages via the Facebook application and view my friends’ Twitter updates via the TwitterBerry application. Are you an active mobile social network user? Do you access social networks via mobile or desktop more frequently?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 5 Comments

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    Couldn't resist commenting on this...big surprise right. Given the amount of interesting browsable content available on the mobile phone, it is no surprise that social networking sites will lead the pack. I know when I log in to FB or MySpace via WAP I will see something interesting and relevant to me. It may be a little slow, but the reward will be worth the effort.

    In turn, today a lot of WAP browsing is done for entertainment which means users are highly susceptible to following interesting / relevant WAP advertising links. This will likely diminish over time, but today relevant WAP ads have very high click through.

    The use of mobile devices to connect users with social media experiences will definitely continue to grow as more developers begin to understand the 'art' of creating mobile extensions of their online experiences.
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    I check out Facebook, Twitter and, to some extent, LinkedIn from my phone. I have a EVDO Verizon/Microsoft phone. It's super fast and easy to keep up to speed with social networking sites, as well as tons of other content, games, news, etc.

    I will, however, throw a bit of cold water on the stats you reference above. The number of people currently using mobile social networking apps has to be a pretty small sample size. I'd guess that as the market for mobile social networking grows into the mainstream, those great response percentages will shrink considerably. Anyone who presents a mobile marketing plan a year from now based on a 27% response rate will be laughed out of the conference room...

    My two cents...

    Jeff
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    @Jeff, these are just Opera statistics ... I previously reported on mobile social networks accounting for 1.7 percent of mobile usage in the first quarter. I understand that the Opera survey is biased. I probably should have added a statement on that.
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    Social networking on the mobile is only going to grow, it's simply the fastest and easiest way to connect, providing the applications are user friendly enough for the masses to use.

    Myself, I have done a lot more Twitter updates since I got Twinkle for my iPhone, but Facebook remains a laptop activity.
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    OK, I didn't realize that. Thanks for clarifying! I totally agree with the general premise that mobile social networking will be big, and a moneymaker. Keep up the great work on the blog- I'm a big fan!

    J

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