Mobile social networking rapidly gaining popularity

Social networking is the in-thing now and it’s evident from the number of people who access MySpace and Facebook dutifully every day. In fact, people are so much into these sites that they want to be connected all the time. However, you can’t carry a laptop all the time and you can’t go to a browsing center ten times a day to update your status in your Facebook profile and to catch up with your friends. So, what do you do? Simple – you access these sites in your mobile phone.

The practice of accessing social networking sites on mobile phones, called mobile social networking, is becoming more and more popular with mobile users these days. The biggest reason is the iPhone. It literally changed the way people perceived mobile phones and now iPhone users top the chart in mobile internet usage.

According to statistics, more than 85% of iPhone users access the internet from their phones. This is an incredible number, to say the least. Smart phone users come second in this list. People, especially young ones, who have internet facility in their phone, access social networking sites regularly.

A report from Nielson says that 1.7% of all mobile users in the U.K. visited social networking sites on their cell phones regularly. It’s 1.6% in the U.S., 0.8% in Spain, 0.6% in Italy, and 0.2% in Germany. Experts predict that these numbers will more than double in about two years and mobile social networking will become popular big time.

MySpace, followed by Facebook, is the most accessed social networking site on mobile phones. In December 2007 alone, the site had close to 3 million visits from mobile users. In the U.S. and all over Europe, there are tens of thousands of regular mobile users who log into MySpace regularly. We’ve already seen how popular MySpace can be, but still these numbers are incredible.

I think these numbers will have a significant impact on mobile service prices in the coming days. Thanks to this overwhelming popularity of mobile social networking and other similar things, operators might be tempted to cut down the rates for data plans. One example for this would be Vodafone UK. In its latest monthly plans, it has added unlimited internet access as a standard feature. We might as well see other companies follow suit.

Categories: Apple iPhone, All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking.

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News Corp to join Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo?

Remember Microsoft’s multi billion dollar bid for Yahoo? The move made headlines all over the world and things got slowed down when Yahoo announced that it is not interested in the offer unless Microsoft raises its bid. Now, the story has taken a new turn. According to sources, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation might join hands with Microsoft in its bid.

If Rupert Murdoch could pull it off, it would be a terrific union. Just imagine – Microsoft, MySpace (which belongs to News Corp.), and Yahoo on the same side. That would be one hell of a force to be reckoned with.

I think such a union is very much possible. Yahoo’s main reason for ignoring Microsoft’s offer is that it feels that the offer is too low to be accepted. With a powerful company like News Corporation on its side, Microsoft will be able to raise its bid considerably and thus Yahoo might be tempted to accept the offer. If it does happen, it will put Google under tremendous pressure and its number one spot in the internet might be under threat. Moreover, such a union could also have a significant impact on the mobile web space, as all three – Microsoft, Yahoo, and MySpace – are somehow interested in the mobile web space.

Nothing has been decided so far and it will take quite some time for the concerned parties to arrive at a mutually agreeable decision. I’ll keep a close eye on this issue and will keep you guys posted. Meanwhile, feel free to tell me what you feel about this possible alliance.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Yahoo, Microsoft.

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