Mobile social networks: Doing what Twitter never could

Do you have a friend, or maybe an inlaw, that specializes in monologues? Now think about the difference between  that one-way conversation and walking into a café and learning, based on GPS  coordinates or triangulation and prior knowledge of your social connections and preferences , that you can meet – on the spot – a  new friend who shares your passion for Burmese history, Michael Jackson dance moves or Bordeaux wines.  “The idea of a social network that deals with reciprocity - I call you, you call me, we interact and so on - is much more meaningful than a listing like your whole Rolodex of everyone you've ever met,” says Bernardo Huberman, one of the lead researchers behind the creation of HP’s new mobile social network application called Friendlee. The application is currently being tested on Android and Windows Mobile handsets at HP labs in Silicon Valley, according to a recent report from the BBC.
There are increasing questions about whether the richness of a true mobile social network will make Twitter look like an asymmetrical relic. But getting to the point of having a viable, standardized mobile social platform that works across carrier networks and smartphone is, at best, a few years away.

There are a host of social mobility start-ups – as many as 50 companies worldwide - and even big gorillas like Facebook and MySpace which are actively targeting a sector which many believe will eventually leap-frog over online social networking to become the de-facto choice to make and strengthen business and social ties.
There are precedents. A social network operated by the BuzzCity is operating a service called “MyGamma” which has attracted over 3.2 million mobile social networking users in Asia and Africa. According to the provider, most customers have one thing in common – they don’t subscribe to online services. BuzzCity CEO KF Lai said recently that customer surveys show that users want tools to communicate, exchange and transact.
Of the 1.1 billion active Internet users, about 738 million of them use social networking regularly. Research firm eMarketer forecasts that over 800 million people will participate in mobile social networks by 2012, up from about 82 million in 2007.
Social mobility still has many mountains to climb. Bulletproof privacy, reliable location-based functionality and tight integration on the handset are common hurdles. But the biggest issue on the table is ultimately how carriers will potentially participate in enabling widespread adoption of mobile social networks through pervasive, inter-carrier relationships. As the space matures, there is little question that carriers will capture revenue from increased mobile marketing and advertising and mobile person-to-person payments.