Telecom Carriers Seek Ways to Monetize Social Networking
Posted in Articles, Service Providers Print The average user of a social networking site spends 59 minutes per day chatting, finding dates and engaging in other media- and profile-based interactions. Little is known, however, about the profitability of today’s social networking powerhouses. For example, News Corp.’s MySpace, the leading social network, has not had to reveal its actual revenues. Also, while people are loyal to the social networking phenomenon as a whole, it is difficult to gauge how loyal to each site individual users are. What’s not in question is that social networks are quickly joining the mainstream. As they continue to grow, service providers are looking for the right ways to monetize these successful service models and leverage any advantages they may already have.
Socially Significant
Skeptics once thought social networking communities were a fad, but now they look like the portals of the future. Sites like MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Bebo, Hoverspot, Rabble and Friendster are social phenomena that have changed interpersonal relationships and are entrenched in the common lexicon. They serve as consolidation points for communication in a world cluttered with devices, channels and media types. They also allow users to keep their virtual selves in constant contact with friends, family and communities of interest.
The portal heavyweights like MSN and Yahoo! are taking notice. Each has begun to organize its applications around social networking to avoid losing critical “favored-site” status to players like MySpace. MySpace itself owns 80 percent of the social networking market, offering a combination of e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, job listings, videos, books and music.
According to ComScore Media, MySpace’s monthly traffic figures have outgrown those of MSN and AOL and are roughly 75 percent of Yahoo!’s numbers, which is still the top site on the Web. Hitwise, an online intelligence service, contends that visits to the top 20 social networking Web sites increased by 11.5 percent from January to February, with the largest increase in visits logged by upstart sites Buzznet (up 148.4 percent), and iMeen (up 145.7 percent).
With the proliferation of these sites, social media aggregators have also emerged. Sites such as SocialURL could further increase interactivity by enabling people to add usernames to groupings of community sites, thus enabling people to create huge networks of friends and work contacts. That means the same user profile could appear as embedded media on numerous sites.
Social networking also is merging with other entertainment genres, such as gaming. Sony’s PS3 Home, for example, will open its customers to a virtual 3D world in which they can customize the look and feel of their virtual selves including choosing gender, physical attributes and clothing. Users will be able to socialize with other gamers who want to chat and watch virtual movies in social environments.
