Social Media is among the most crucial consumer communications channels on the internet today. Along with dedicated sites such as Facebook and Twitter, aspects of social media interaction are now being built into a whole range of different those sites and services, from retailers right through to video hosting sites.
Mobile social networking
One of the key trends in social media has been the rise of mobile functionality, with web-based social networking providers offering a range of mobile services Adin Ross. The demand because of this mobility is obviously evidenced in consumer behaviour, with Facebook reporting that more than 200 million consumers currently access the site via mobile.
A lot of the focus of mobile social networking currently has been around the creation of mobile rich media interfaces, essentially the recreation of it's functionality through mobile web pages or smartphone apps. However, whilst these tools have enabled a proportion of consumers to access social networking on the run, they are failing to cater for a big percentage of potential users.
The limitations of the mobile web: ubiquity and penetration
The problem lies in the relatively small penetration of internet-enabled smartphones, that will be still only around 30% even yet in the relatively developed US market (NPD, 2010). Which means, even yet in the absolute most advanced markets, more than two thirds of consumers still cannot access rich mobile social media services on their primary handset.
When you combine this with the relatively low reach of the 3G coverage that permits mobile internet access, it is clear that rich mobile social networking services are effectively limited in the extent to which they could reach the broadest consumer audiences.
Mobile alternatives
The solution to this issue lies in a more established mobile technology - SMS. SMS is effectively ubiquitous: every handset is SMS enabled and a large proportion of users understand and know how to use it. Moreover, the GSM network coverage that supports SMS is near ubiquitous on an international basis.
Certainly one of the most crucial great things about SMS is its incredible flexibility. Despite being fully a not at all hard messaging format, the huge range of SMS services on offer show that it may be applied in a huge selection of use cases. This is true in social media because it does in other sectors, with SMS being effective at enabling a broad choice of social networking functionality from any device, anywhere.
SMS may be used in a wide selection of use cases:
Mobile updates
The simplest SMS social networking functionality is the capacity to update a social profile or service via SMS. Whether this can be a micro-blog post, a status update or possibly a profile alteration, SMS may be used to facilitate updates to an on the web service whilst on the move. Social networking is situated around short, timely messages and and so the format and usability of SMS lend themselves to the form of interaction.
Alerting
One of the great things about social networking is the capacity to access updates from friends and contacts at anytime. SMS can be integrated into this technique, with page updates being distributed to subscribers' phones via the channel. These alerts might include updates from selected friends, important changes to friend's profiles or invites from other users to join a social group.
Content and applications
The sharing of content and applications is a core part of social networking for several users and SMS may be used as part of the distribution chain for these formats. WAP-Push SMS enables the cost effective and simple distribution of content via an SMS, making it easy for users to access and install rich media onto their phones.
Security
With social support systems now holding significant volumes of personal details about their users, privacy and security are paramount. SMS may be used as part of a straightforward, two-factor authentication process to boost the security of the login process. When a user signs into a social media service a one-time password (OTP) is sent for their registered mobile number to accomplish the login process. This ensures that fraudulent users cannot login to something even though they have obtained the user's password.
Premium services
Monetising social media has been a challenge for several services, with even the largest players still trying to find a powerful business model. SMS may be used by any social networking provider as a premium offering due to their free subscribers. For instance, users could possibly be asked to cover regular SMS updates or the capacity to post for their social network via SMS.
Virtual gifting
Virtual gifts are a well known service on many social support systems, with users sharing bits of digital content as presents due to their friends. These virtual gifts can get a portable aspect through distribution via WAP-push SMS messages.
The mobile mix
Mobile is going to be a major part into the future of social networking; the question is how this mobility is going to be constituted. Undoubtedly, rich mobile access could have a position to play in offering functionality to the little but growing market of smartphone users. However, any provider of social networking services who's interested in accessing a large proportion of users who do not need mobile web access will need to incorporate technologies such as SMS within their mobile mix.
This argument is even more compelling when one talks about the geographical spread of social networking and mobile. Whilst many social support systems currently are centered on developed markets, future growth will come from less developed regions where smartphone penetration and 3G coverage are even lower. For these markets SMS is without question going to be a key part of mobile growth strategies for social media services.
About tyntec
tyntec is an international mobile interaction supplier, offering high-quality mobile messaging and information services to mobile network operators, enterprises, mobile service providers and internet companies. tyntec offers its customers a distinctive level of quality in 2-way SMS interaction services. This promise is on the basis of the company's pioneering service level agreements (SLAs) and security of message transmission from end-to-end. tyntec enables its customers to reach more than 90% of global subscribers and offers a 15-second SMS delivery guarantee, real-time delivery notifications of most messages and a no-message loss policy.
