Social Networking: The New E-Mail, and So Much More

As I was perusing the web for social networking articles, I ran across this one from Nielsen Online, a service of the venerable Nielsen Company (yes, the TV ratings providers), has announced a new study, “Global Faces and Network Places.” The study finds that social networking and blogs collectively are now the fourth most popular online activity category – ahead of personal e-mail.

Such “member communities,” as Nielsen Online terms them, are also growing twice as fast as search, portals, PC software, and e-mail, the other largest online activity categories. Put another way, two-thirds of those online spend almost 10 percent of all time spent on the Internet participating in these communities.

These findings demonstrate and underscore that users across the globe want to do more than simply exchange static, text-centric messages. They want to interact, to collaborate, to share, and to discover, together. And they don't want to have to jump through hoops to do it, or tolerate delays or unpredictable events interposed by the vagaries of e-mail infrastructures.

So, what's next?

The easy, straightforward, and consistent access to all currently disparate member communities, on demand and on the road. That is, a single interface to all of the communities you care about, that runs on your mobile communications device of choice. An interface that evolves with your needs and wants, thanks to an extensible, flexible back-end platform. And an interface that gains new features that engage even more constituencies.

This is the MobileTribe vision, and what we've been spending so much time and effort building and refining. Download the software, consolidate access to your social networks, and take it with you. And stay tuned, as the MobileTribe vision and community expand. We promise to make it worth your while – and to make it as easy as possible to tell all of your closest friends about it, wherever you may be.