No matter where you go, it’s impossible to escape talk of social networking sites. Newspapers are littered with stories and someone will undoubtedly mention the name of a particular site before your day is out. Recently there’s been lots in the news about the boom of social networking sites, but what about mobile social networking sites? 

There are currently 31 mobile social networking services, including Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, a number that is expected to rise this year as these are attracting large numbers of users by providing new business opportunities.

There are also a number of Web 2.0 type services such as Twitter than whilst not necessarily mobile services, use features such as SMS to keep people up to date.

Christine Perey of Mobile Social Networking comments, “Mobile social networking is reaching its first boiling point and everyone wants to participate.”

International research by Informa Telecoms & Media, the leading provider of business intelligence to global telecoms and media markets, reveals that the amount of world-wide users of mobile social networks rose to 57 million in 2007, double that of 2006. The telecoms intelligence company predicts that the growth in revenue of this market will only accelerate and that by 2012 will reach $52 billion.

I’ve been at the Web 2.0 Expo this week and even amongst all the evangalising, mobile social networking and ambient computing has been a common thread – definitely something to keep your eye on! ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/mobile-networking/feed/ 0 http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/ http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:24:49 +0000 Chris http://172.16.1.140/blog/?p=269

The world wide web means business today is rarely limited to a single country and it’s often the case that an employee will visit a foreign speaking country at some point in their career. With this in mind, this week I was really impressed by a few very clever translation tools. 

Linguatec language technologies showed off its remarkable piece of software for smartphones and PDAs. Shoot and Translate works by translating text that you photograph with your handset, for example a street sign or building name, which the application then scans and allows you to either listen to or read the translation. The application also allows you to enter text manually into your phone and accounts for spelling mistakes and linguistic frippery.

Launched by Talking Technologies, SMS Demo is another piece of handy software that translates foreign languages. This application works by allowing you to send a text to another mobile, landline, email or fax, which the application translates and delivers in either text or audio and in over 30 languages. Nützlich, oder was? ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/feed/ 0 http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/it%e2%80%99s-not-just-the-americans-who%e2%80%99re-catching-up/ http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/it%e2%80%99s-not-just-the-americans-who%e2%80%99re-catching-up/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:54:16 +0000 Chris http://172.16.1.140/blog/?p=266

Following the comments in my last blog entry about growth of the US mobile messaging market, here’s a quick snapshot of Australia’s texting activities.  With mobile phones increasing in popularity as a method of communication down under, Australians are set to send more than ten billion text messages this year.   According to telecommunications analyst, Gartner, Australians are predicted to send 10.8 billion texts in 2008 and will top 11.2 billion by 2011. From messaging alone, figures also show that the country’s revenue is expected to grow 15.7 per cent this year to $US60.2 billion ($70.45 billion).

Although the UK still heads the field with a staggering 57 billion text messages sent last year, December 2007 (see Julian’s 18/12/07 post), saw Esendex Australia surpass its sales targets for 2007. This included servicing microbusinesses, SMEs and even some of Australia’s top 10 businesses. With such a successful history of sales in business communications and high industry predictions, Esendex looks set to have a promising year down under!

An interesting article by Evan Schuman on his “Storefrontbacktalk” site describes how Wal-Mart’s highly secretive testing of SMS marketing in Dec-07 highlighted two important lessons:

• SMS messages are supposed to be punchy: don’t try and cram too much in
• Our mobile phones are also very personal: don’t abuse this by sending too many messages. 

One Wal-Mart employee was quoted as saying:

“We were sending 10-15 (offers) in about three or four text messages. We learned that three messages is where the consumer says, ‘I’ve heard enough from you, Mr. Retailer,’.”

Two interesting points:

1. The sheer scale of the “test”. Wal-Mart, never one to do things by half, signed up hundreds of thousands of people to the program
2. This was in the US, surely yet another sign that the States is opening up to the opportunities for business messaging.

James’ blog entry on Wal-Mart raised a very interesting point about the use of business messaging in America, particularly with his ending comment,

“This was in the US, surely yet another sign that the States is opening up to the opportunities for business messaging.” 

Mobile phone usage in the US continues to grow with 56 per cent of American mobile phone subscribers using SMS. Figures from the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) show that, in 2007 alone, more than 240 billion text messages were delivered in the US. This is a considerable amount more than in 2005, when only 57 billion had been sent. American businesses are starting to communicate and interact with their customers by using text messages as a delivery channel.

According to GfK NOP Research, one in three US mobile subscribers, or 78 million people, saw or listened to an advert on their mobile during Q4 2007. Of those ads received via SMS or MMS, 33 per cent remembered the brands being promoted.

Not only do these statistics show that America is increasing their business use of the text messaging, but also that America is catching up with the Europe and Asia at a rapid pace.

The surge of people using the text message to communicate raises an arguable question – should the text message become a formalised mode of communication?

A court heard recently that the City of Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, declared under oath that he did not have an affair with his chief of staff nor did he fire two police officers in a retaliatory manner. However, text messages between the mayor and his chief of staff suggested otherwise and brought his testimony into question.   The City eventually settled with the police officers, but the incident does highlight the need for businesses to include all messaging systems in their recording policies.

ARMA International, a not-for-profit professional association for managing records and information, states that “a record, regardless of its format or the media on which it is recorded, supports decisions, justifies budgets and expenses, communicates ideas, confirms sales and purchases, documents rights, provides accountability, and otherwise provides information. This information may be required by executives, staff members, legal/regulatory authorities, stockholders, students, the public, and others in the organisation.”

Ultimately, if emails, word documents and phone conversations are accepted for official records, then surely text messages should be too?

For further information, please check out ARMA International ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/formalising-the-text-message-%e2%80%93-for-or-against/feed/ 0 http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/sms-sweet-nothings/ http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/sms-sweet-nothings/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:16:31 +0000 Chris http://172.16.1.140/blog/?p=252

Today is the day to declare your love for someone, so I thought that this was rather appropriate.

As Valentine’s Day falls midweek this year, there’s a very high chance that you and your loved one won’t be in the same place all day, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t send sweet nothings to each other. According to AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph) Valentine’s Day is the most popular holiday for text messaging, resulting in a 33% spike in SMS traffic. 

The multiple messages of love sent over the course of the day, rather than one to simply wish ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’, can explain the increase. Research also shows that people prefer to send short and sweet messages to their Valentine using SMS shorthand such as ILU (I love you), 2G2BT (Too good to be true) and KOTC (Kiss on the cheek).

“Today’s etiquette allows for serious or meaningful messages, like those sent on holidays, to be sent via text messages,”

said Mark Collins, vice president of Data Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit.

“These data points are additional evidence of how influential mobile phones have been, and continue to be, in shaping cultural norms.”

Happy Valentine’s Day XOXOXOXOXO (hugs and kisses)