The next wave of social networking will be driven not by web-based sites, but through the mobile phone

BANGALORE,INDIA: Social networking is often considered as the current big Internet trend. Lack of time has made brevity a virtue today, with most of us communicating in one-sentence updates on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites that have sprung up by the dozen and have got us hooked.

Social networks have facilitated the way in which we share information. This ease of sharing has in turn led to more people feeling the need to share the details of their life and as such increased their desire to stay updated on details of their friend’s lives and current affairs. Consumers now want to access to this information available anywhere and at any time.

The next wave of social networking will be driven not by web-based sites, but through the mobile phone – the one device that users carry everywhere they go. If the desire to connect surfaced during the social networking explosion, the need to remain connected will be addressed by mobile networking.

According to Vital Analytics, a Bangalore-based research firm that tracks mobile trends in India, approximately 10 million urban Indians used their mobile phones for social networking during the quarter ending August 2009, penetrating 3.3% of urban Indian mobile phone users. Interestingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are almost 50% more likely than average urban Indian mobile phone user to access social networking sites over mobile phones. This indicates that the young and restless generation is already feeling the need to share whatever they want, whenever and wherever they are.

Several applications that enable users to access web-based social networking sites through their mobiles already exist and are gaining popularity. Mobile phone subscribers can now create profiles, make friends, create and participate in chat rooms, hold private conversations, share photos and videos, share blogs and so much more!

But the future will not be defined by access and ease alone; rather, it will be built on enabling users to integrate their friends in the virtual world with those in the real world – their contacts on the mobile address book.

The mobile address book is not just a repository of names and phone numbers; it also reflects the friends and associates that users have the most contact with. Typically, contacts on web-based social networking sites include everyone from distant associates to people we haven’t spoken to in years. However, mobile phone usage reflects the people users connect with most often, through the more personalized and meaningful voice medium.

Our real social network contains the people we meet and communicate with every day, not simply a list of friends on a web site. The true foundation of our social network is literally in the palm of our hands: our mobile phonebook.

However, a simple change of handset can potentially disrupt this network, since copying all the contact information is an unavoidably tiresome task. What’s worse, when a cellphone is lost, users are stranded without their most valuable asset – the phone book. Telecom operators have therefore been offering the service of backing up contacts on their network at a minimal cost.

Mobile social networking can be an extension of this functionality, enabling a “social address book” that reflects the status, moods and thoughts of our closest friends. Furthermore, today’s technology can also enable dynamic updating of this address book as and when contacts change their details. This means users no longer have to inform each and every contact about their new coordinates and their friends need not go through the hassle of manually updating their phone books.

A social address book has undeniable advantages for users, enabling them to engage with each other using the mobile phone as the primary platform. Such an address book also allows users to connect with different groups of friends in each of their social networks from a central interface, without having to update every network individually.

From the telecom operator’s perspective, encouraging users to make more connections and increasing touch points between users will shore up their revenues in the face of falling ARPUs. The address book is usually the first point of contact for users for essential functions such as making a call and sending an SMS. Making this a live and dynamic value addition will increase usage of other services too.

Essentially, this technology enables subscribers to sync their hitherto static mobile phone book with their network of friends and associates and use it to drive several other applications. Once operators take the leap, it won’t be long before users see their connections coming to life.

And since social address books will have a rich set of features – from video and music-sharing to mobile instant messaging – premium services are now at the user’s fingertips. Early adopters among operators are already exploring the possibility of offering this value addition to customers, not just as a means of increasing revenue, but also differentiating themselves in an increasingly cut-throat market.