Rise of Mobile Social Software

ABI Research has come out with some eye-popping numbers about the explosion of mobile social communities. The rise of MoSoSo (Mobile Social Software), thanks to Steve Jones, awakens tremendous new challenges and opportunities. One of the best explanations of this rise comes from Tomi Ahonen who has also written an excellent book “Communities Dominate Brands”.

The usual tried and tested methods of marketing can safely be thrown out. For instance, when 90% of consumers trust word-of-mouth suggestions, how will companies tap into such communities and stay? There are plenty of players in this arena: Dodgeball, Enpresence, Jambo Networks, Loopt, Mologogo, My MoSoSo, Pinppl, PlaceSite, Plazes, Saki Mobile, Nokia Sensor, Microsoft SLAM, Vixo, Zingku, …

My earlier posts about Loopt and Location Based Services stuff are examples. This is great opportunity for truly innovative approaches to engage, convert and involve the MoSoSo consumer.

Further Reading:

A dated article from Wired
Rudy de Waele’s blog post (again, dated to show that this concept is not so new)
Blog post by Enrique Ortiz
Mike Butcher’s optimistic post on MoSoSo
Panel podcast discussion on MoSoSo from MobileJones