By this time, the popularity of social networks and, in general, of social media is out of discussion, even in Italy, where Facebook has filled the gap with the other countries in less than a year.

However, there is already a new world, advancing and integrating what we’re already used to live everyday in front of a computer: this is the Mobile Web, progressively pulled by the growth of social media.

In fact, the success of the mobile version of these media is growing very fast: according to a research of Informa per Buongiorno, the 27.7 millions of users in 2008, will become 134 millions in 2012.  In other words, considering  all the owners of a mobile phone, one out of five will use a social media on its device.

Another research from ComScore talks about a growth of 152%, in 2008, in Western Europe, with a rate of penetration on the global users of 5,4%.

Why such a success?

Mobile Web has certainly its benefits, emphasized more than elsewhere, in the 2.0 sites:

- Availability (everywhere, anytime)

- Specific  position (no matter where you are, you can be localized by yourself and your friends)

- Utilization in interstitial activities (you can use it when you wouldn’t even think to open a laptop)

Besides, social networks  allow you to develop and manage relations, representing an extension of your personality, just like a mobile phone.

This is why these kind of websites are ideal for the Mobile Web:  they express ourselves and allow us to engage relationships, wherever we are and no matter how much time we have.

In this evolution, there are still some obstacles.  Privacy dangers, for example, related with the localization of the device, owned platforms and high navigation fees. Nonetheless, social networks certainly seem destined to increase the mobile navigation.

Therefore, we are talking about a natural multichannel extension of the “listening marketing”, which the most enlightened companies must consider as soon as possible.

Gianluigi Zarantonello

Translation by Luigi Tarini.

You can find the original post here!