950 million mobile social networkers by 2012, says Pyramid Research brief

Today’s active social networking members represent more than one-third of the total worldwide Internet user base, for a figure of 530m members worldwide. Looking ahead, Pyramid expects social networking sites (SNS) to gain prominence as sites add increased functionality and more people are introduced to them by friends and acquaintances. As social networking develops as an industry, mobility will play a vital role in shaping the future.

There are strong forces bringing SNS and mobility together including the industry-wide trend toward presence and personalization. For social networking sites, the ability of members to access the sites from anywhere will enhance the utility of the sites and thus the advertising revenue that the sites can generate. For mobile operators, SNS could greatly increase mobile data usage, which has so far been lackluster in most markets, and open the door to new revenue streams from subscription fees or advertising. To that end, a broad range of handset suppliers, network equipment providers, and software developers have been making progress in addressing technical obstacles to mobile social networking – such as the need for bandwidth, devices and browsers.