MEM 09 Panel – Mobile Social Networking: Can it be Monetised?

I have just finished a really interesting (in my opinion) panel at MEM09 titled “Mobile Social Networking: Can it be Monetised?” with Stefan Rust, Co-Founder and CEO, Catalist Group and Chairman, MEF Asia; Mark Curtis, Chief Executive Officer, Flirtomatic; and Steve Ives, Chief Executive Officer, Taptu.

Unlike most panels I speak on, this one seemed quite frank and to the point about some of the challenging things facing mobile social networks and how they are promoted and monetised. The discussion shifted from marketing to revenue to devices to usage trends and as it kept shifting one thing became very clear: mobile social networking, and mobile internet in general, represents a different kind of experience to the user that is, in some ways, more suited to use in your life as you live it.

Mark from Flirtomatic has a service that makes money in innovative ways and it was interesting to hear the statistical breakdown of their revenue sources – around 25% comes from traditional advertising and the remainder comes from fringe sales like virtual gifts, profile self-promotion and other values added goodies that users can buy.

Steve from Taptu said there are about half a million mobile-optimised web sites out there, which I thought was quite surprising. I expected that number to be slightly higher but I’ll take his word for it, Taptu is a mobile search engine.

I spoke about location-based advertising on the grid and how our growth has exploded over the past six months. I tweeted this pic earlier but the QEII conference centre is located right in the middle of all the cool stuff in London, check out the pic below. In about 2 hours from now the Meffy Awards ceremony starts and the grid has been shortlisted in the “innovation” and “mobile first” categories, so I am quite excited to find out the outcome of that and it looks like its going to be an amazing networking event, its sold out.

The Grid wins New Telecommunications Service of the Year award in Dubai

Congratulations to my team, we were very excited to find out that Vodacom and The Grid won the New Telecommunications Service of the Year award at the 3rd Annual Comms MEA Awards this week. In the photo below, Shameel Joosub, Managing Director of Vodacom South Africa, collects the award at the Hyatt in Dubai.

This is the official press release for the award:

Vodacom’s ‘the Grid’ wins award in Dubai

The 3rd Annual Comms MEA Awards 2008 were presented at a lavish ceremony at Grand Hyatt Dubai on Monday 15th December.

Dubai – UAE, Wednesday 17th December – Vodacom was presented with the New Telecommunications Service of the Year award this week at the 3rd Annual Comms MEA Awards in Dubai, the most prestigious event dedicated to the region’s communications sector.

The winning company has launched one of the region’s first mobile-based social networking platforms, described by the judges as a “perfect combination of Web 2.0 applications and mobility”. Vodacom’s the Grid is also the first of its kind in Africa.

The Comms MEA Awards set out to celebrate and pay tribute to the telecoms industry professionals and operators that have shown outstanding performance and results in key market segments.

Organised by ITP Technology Publishing, the awards ceremony took place at Grand Hyatt Dubai, and gathered more than 250 senior executives and personalities from the Middle East and Africa telecommunications industry.

Twelve awards were presented at the ceremony in categories that encompassed a different facet of the telecoms industry from individual excellence, to corporate success, to outstanding service and expertise in implementation. In addition to these categories, there was also the hotly contested category of lifetime achievement award, awarded to an individual who has helped shape and inspire the Middle East and Africa telecoms market.

The winners were judged by a prestigious panel of industry experts, selected from within the regional communications sector. The awards acknowledged those operators and individuals who have taken a leadership role in the growth of the regional industry. The winners were chosen for consistently investing in technology, implementing winning strategies and developing services that capture the hearts and minds of end users.

Accepting the award, Shameel Joosub, Managing Director of Vodacom South Africa, says: “The Grid is South Africa’s first location-based social networking service available on cellphones and can be used at no extra cost by anyone with a South African cellphone number. The impact of this innovative technology reaches far beyond traditional social networking borders as anyone with the Grid loaded on their cellphones can find friends in their area on the Grid, locate them on a map, chat to them and share experiences and much more.”

“The recognition of the Grid as New Telecommunications Service of the Year by the Comms MEA Awards is a great honour for Vodacom and testifies to the endless possibilities for growth in the mobile social networking environment across the world,” Joosub says.

For more information on the Comms MEA Awards and for details of all the winners please visit http://www.itp.net/events/commsmeaawards/

Ends

Issued on behalf of: Vodacom Group
Dot Field
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: +27 11 653 5440

NOTE TO EDITORS:

the Grid is South Africa’s first location-based social networking service available for free to all cellphone users. The service allows anyone with a cellphone and the Grid loaded on their cellphone to find friends in their area; locate them on a map, chat to them and share experiences by leaving blips with text, videos or photos on the Grid. Accessing the Grid is as simple as sending an SMS with the word ‘grid’ to 33313 (SMS is charged at R0.50) or by registering from a PC on the website at www.thegrid.co.za or from a cellphone at wap.thegrid.co.za.