Wireless Social Networks – Are You On Them?

Like nearly everyone else on the Internet, you will probably have some kind of social network account; you may even use one on a regular basis, like the hundreds of millions of others Web users, but have you ventured into the realm of wireless social networks yet?

When the 3G iPhone was released, a lot was made of the boost it would provide wireless social network use. To date, this has not quite happened, but some are forecasting big things for the medium.

iSuppli has forecast that by 2020 wireless social networks will generate $2.5 trillion in combined revenue from products, services, applications, coponents and advertising.

“Over the next 10 years, as mobile devices like smartphones become the primary channel for viewing content or accessing the Internet, social networking will move largely into the wireless realm, providing the type of ubiquitous connection that consumers are demanding,” Derek Lidow, president and CEO at iSuppli, said in an announcement Wednesday. “This event will accompany the creation of a new generation of applications that will greatly expand the appeal and utility of social networking, and will finally generate profits for the social networking industry.”

“New intuitive applications enabled by innovative technologies introduced in the timeframe from 2009 to 2015 will spur the adoption of social networking and lead to major revenue growth in this area,” he said. iSuppli analyzed social networking and found three levels of interaction for users: immediate family and close friends, extended friends, and shared interest groups. Users interact sporadically — but intensely — with extended friends through games, avatars, and general updates and information. Users with common interests communicate in ways that extend into business. The popularity of social networking in business — for trading, online collaboration, and virtual meetings — is likely to spur advancement of mobile devices equipped for content viewing and sharing, iSuppli said. Wireless devices are likely to become the primary means of communicating, accessing content, and using applications by 2018, and that will change the semiconductor and display industries globally, iSuppli predicts.

I think this is pretty much a given, you only have to look at the iPhone to see the interest and as more applications become built for it, new opportunities will open up and new ways of interacting will become the norm. After all, who wants to lug around an notebook computer, or wait until they get home to connect with their friends. I know I regularly use the iPhone to hook up with Facebook; probably more so then I do on the laptop now.

Just wait another 12 months and see what kind of mobile social networks will be available.