Can Operators Be Properly Socialized?

Social Networking No Free Ride for Carriers

Monetizing such socializing also will take a more proactive, collaborative form, likely done through revenue-sharing models. “Successful business models [for location-based social networking] may differ from what many observers expect,” said ABI Research Principal Analyst Dominique Bonte. “While location-based advertising integrated with sophisticated algorithms holds a lot of promise, the current reality rather points to licensing and revenue-sharing models as the way forward for social networking startups to grow their customer base and reach profitability ... [For instance,] Loopt has established partnerships with all major U.S. cellular carriers.”

Bonte pointed out that handset makers are part of the partnership picture as well, and are interested in socializing their devices — a boon for operators with exclusive handset deals. [AT&T Inc.’s success with the iPhone has proven that hot devices can change the conversation on mobile Internet applications and their value.

For its part, Samsung announced a multiyear deal with GyPSii, developer of a mobile networking platform that utilizes location data to let users geo-tag content with friends, potentially receive location-based advertising, and interact with multiple social networks like Facebook et al. GyPSii will come pre-loaded on Samsung's upcoming touch-screen smart phone, the Omnia.

Meanwhile, Nokia has acquired LBS and geo-tag startup Plazes and soon will beta launch the location-enabled Nokia Chat social instant messaging application.

However, back on the network operator front, it’s not just mobile service providers trying to leverage the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Landline providers are thinking deeper too, and leveraging their own unique abilities. They’re bringing multiple lines of business to bear for a new sort of business model. Consider Comcast Communications’ love match with address book provider Plaxo. Plaxo’s virtual address repository links in the ability to send e-mails, instant message, check voice mail, and send out alerts to everyone in a network from work (Outlook), home (Comcast), out on the road at an Internet café or from a mobile phone. Ultimately, the math looks like this: Social networking + access networks = populist UC, without all the messy IP PBX integration. It allows service providers to become entrenched in multiple aspects of people’s lives, and it livens up the triple- and quad-play too.

Along the same lines, on the other side of the pond, Vodafone Plc has acquired ZYB, a Danish company that has a social networking and online management tool for contact and calendar information online. Again, it represents Vodafone’s ability to give ad hoc unified communications to the general population, allowing users to share and back up content when they are on the move, to share calendars, and to leverage presence to show when they are available for a phone call. “Consumers will increasingly be able to move seamlessly between the PC and the mobile phone, keeping their friends and contacts aware of their movements as they choose,” said Ri Pierce-Grove, analyst at research firm Datamonitor. “ZYB's upcoming Phonebook application is a clear move to ease consumers’ movements between PCs and mobile devices, as well as to deliver some of the benefits of unified communications.”

Ultimately, carriers will need to get creative and deliver real value to win in Web 2.0, instead of sitting back and trying to let viral spread bring them loyalty and increased data traffic. It remains to be seen how many social skills most of them end up having.

Related Articles:

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Social Networking Meets Mobile VoIP

Service Providers Hone Their Social Skills

Comcast, Vodafone Embrace Social Networking, Team With Top Sites

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