Social Networking Goes Mobile

Friday, 06. 5. 2009  –  Category: Enversa

Although almost everybody by now knows that Social Networking sites are the biggest craze on the Internet today, not many people realize that many of these sites are focusing on taking the web itself in a new direction. That direction, and some people say the future of the Internet itself, is mobile. With more people using smart phones and handheld devices, with greater processing power, like Palm Pilots, Palm Pre, iPhones, Sony eReaders, and other electronics that can access the web on the go, many of the big social websites understand that they have to meet their users where their users most often are. And that means going mobile.

Even today, most social networking sites allow you to interact with them from devices other than traditional hard-wired desktop or laptop computers. Facebook lets you send and receive status updates from even the less technologically advanced cell phones by allowing you to integrate their site with text messaging technology available on almost every mobile phone.

Twitter does much the same thing. You can receive text messages on your mobile phone whenever other people tweet, and can send your own tweets via text message. Since status updates are at the core of Twitter’s service, you can essentially use their entire web site just with your mobile phone, making it very convenient if you’re on the go and want to get in touch with your friends to tell them something that just won’t wait until you make it home to your computer.

MySpace, in addition to this text messaging capability, even allows you to upload photographs and video to your profile as long as your phone is technologically advanced enough to be able to handle it. And of course, you can update your status, receive SMS messages about other people’s updates and activities as well.

The new mobile aspects of Social Networking sites make it a lot easier for you to meet up with your online buddies in real life, whether you already know them or not. By sending out and receiving text messages on your cell phones, you can organize and respond to invitations for all sorts of real-life meet-ups while you’re already out and on the go. As mobile technology increases, this kind of web/mobile interaction will only become more common, so if you haven’t already tried it out, you might want to give it a shot.

Tags: Facebook, iPhones, Marc Pickren, MySpace, Palm Pilots, SMS, Social Networking, text messaging technology, Twitter