India’s mobile subscriber base is increasing exponentially by the day and along with it, mobile social networking has been on a consistent rise. Mobile social networking has become a buzz word in India owing to the surge in popularity of both social media networking as well as mobile phone usage. Mobile social networking according to Wikipedia
“…is social networking where one or more individuals of similar interests or commonalities, conversing and connecting with one another using the mobile phone. Much like web based social networking, mobile social networking occurs in virtual communities.”
Social networking through mobiles has become a fad, it is perceived to be lot more convenient than logging onto PCs each time to access these sites. Also, given that mobile penetration is higher than PCs penetration, it is logical that more and more people will access internet from their mobiles. In fact, India houses at least 50 million mobile web users currently. The growing popularity of mobile social networking can also be attributed to youth. Youth being mobile savvy as well as enthusiastic users of social networking sites are setting the trend, attributing to the rise of social networking through mobiles.
A study conducted by Opera indicated that, in India, approximately 10 million urban Indians used their mobile phones for engaging in social networking during quarter ending August, 2009, a reach of 3.3% among urban Indian mobile phone user. It also overtook China to take the 3rd place in the global mobile internet industry.
Current Players in the Indian Mobile Social Networking Market
The current players includes names such as Yaari, iBiBo, DesiMartini, IndyaRocks and SMSGupShup. The list is ever growing with more sites such as MingleBox having intensions to launch soon. The functionalities of each of these sites varies from using them as just a tool to interact with one’s network to advanced functionalities such as sharing photos, setting up polls, commenting on blogs, to name a few.
As users increasingly flock onto social networks, Mobile social networking has caught the attention of major players like Facebook and Twitter. In 2009, Facebook had partnered with SMS GupShup to enable status updates using text messages.
Advantages
The biggest advantage of a mobile social network is that one is always connected even when on the move. They can provide location based services depending on the location of the user. Further, a study by Business Week suggests that cell phones offer other capabilities that PCs do not. Dodgeball for example allows users to track friends and their locations via Global Positioning Systems (GPS), now being used by most urban users in India.
Disadvantages
On the other hand however, mobile social networking has its own disadvantages that need to be addressed. One of the issues is that it can be accessed only on those handsets that are comparatively high-end. It needs some minimal features such as GPRS connectivity which is not present in a majority of phones in India.
Overcoming these challenges, although arduous, will be tremendously worthy. As already iterated, global statistics points toward a brighter future for mobile networking. The environment is so that marketers can no longer ignore the potential that mobile social networking has. It’s time to recognize and harness this potential.
