Bebo

A quarter of young people are social networking on mobiles every day, claims survey

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:16:23 -0400

Over a quarter of young people are using social networking sites on their mobiles every day, a CCS Insight report has claimed. The growth in mobile internet usage is so strong, said the report, that operators are relying on it to fill revenue gaps as profit margins fall.

CCS found that consumers are increasingly using the mobile internet as a force of habit, with one in five respondents admitting that they log on to their preferred social networking site ‘several times a day'. Facebook is still the star attraction of social networking on the mobile internet, with hits outnumbering Twitter, MySpace and Bebo combined.

However, there is room for further improvement on overall mobile internet usage, with around a quarter of respondents still not using the internet on their mobiles at all. Paolo Pescatore, head of mobile content at CCS Insight, said: "The phenomenal growth in mobile internet usage is removing the strain on voice and text for operators. The web is revolutionising the way people use their mobiles and big brands are starting to invest huge amounts in it." Article

Mobile social networking boosts page views

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:39:57 -0500

The combination of social networking and mobility continues to drive web traffic, with one of the newest entrants, Bebo, claiming its mobile offering is causing a boom in page views with a 44 per cent increase in January.

O2 UK, which signed to join the Bebo Open Mobile initiative last month, has seen apparently an increase in Bebo pages viewed on its network of more than 60 per cent. This upsurge, according to Bebo's head of mobile, Sean Kane, is evidence the website is offering a compelling mobile service. "Mobile social networking is a fast-moving market and empowering our partners to innovate in a flexible and mutually beneficial way helps us all win," said Kane.

The company describes its Open Mobile initiative as being aimed at operators, handset vendors and mobile software developers and consists of a suite of software tools to support the delivery of the Bebo ‘experience' to mobile users.

This move into the mobile arena might provide Bebo's parent, AOL, with some justification for acquiring Bebo for US$850 million in 2008. AOL has bundled Bebo into its People Network group which includes AIM, ICQ, SocialThing, Yedda and Goowy Media. The president of this group has commented, perhaps wisely, that there are no more social networking acquisitions in the offing.

For more on this story:
IAB and Mobile Europe

Facebook and Nokia discuss in-depth partnership

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:22:43 -0500

Speculation that the leading social networking provider Facebook has been in talks with Nokia has proven to be correct as sketchy details emerge about how the Facebook website would be integrated directly into Nokia handsets.

Whilst Facebook is also said to be meeting with Palm and Motorola about a similar partnership, the idea of linking with Nokia must be significantly more appealing given the turmoil currently being experienced by these two US-based companies. The discussions between Facebook and Nokia are thought to be centred around the management and storage of Facebook contact information directly into Nokia handsets. This would enable users to check to see if friends were online or send messages through their phone's contact list.

Current Facebook mobile applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry make it relatively easy to call or text a Facebook contact whose phone number is in the system, but users cannot sync their contacts with a phone's main system.

In the UK, social networking site Bebo announced that O2 would be its first partner for its Bebo Open Mobile programme, which offers mobile networks a suite of tools to deliver Bebo to mobile handsets.

For more on this story:
Brand Republic and Cnet

Keep mobile social networking simple, says Bebo head

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:57:06 -0400

Mobile operators and platform developers have been urged to keep the user experience simple when building mobile social networks. The head of Bebo, Sean Kane, maintained that cheap, basic functions such as being able to send a text message to online friends from the handset were enough to empower users, rather than layering advanced features on top of the mobile social networking experience.

Bebo, which had racked up more than 40 million users prior to being acquired by AOL earlier this year for US$850 million, admits its mobile interface looks unexciting compared to the fixed-line alternative. However, Kane confirmed the 16-24 age bracket was the target, a group less likely to be able to afford smartphones capable of supporting sophisticated user interfaces.

Kane was also critical of the number of mobile platforms currently on the market, but registered his enthusiasm for Google's forthcoming open mobile operating system Android as an example of the way forward.

In Europe, the company has recently run several campaigns with music vendors in an attempt to convince this age group to move away from using free music download services such as limewire.

For more on this story:
- go to Total Telecom

Related articles:
Mobile social networking tops 4 million users in US. Mobile social network story
Forecast: 140M mobile social networking users by 2013. Report