Internet social networks have become mainstream online activities. However, mobile counterpart has not yet taken off. As we carefully evaluate the difference, we can foresee the huge potential.
Technology, usage, and user experienceObviously, Internet browser has the advantage of
browsing and capable to deliver rich user experience. Given the larger screen, faster connection and processing power, rich media is pervasive on Internet. In this sense, the usage of Internet is more
media oriented. On the other hand, mobile device is historically more
communication oriented. Today, mobile computing is becoming more powerful as we experienced with iPhone, once the cost barrier is overcome by volume, eventually rich media will penetrate into mobile world. However, mobile device is not ideal for browsing behavior, there must be innovative ways for users to acquire content more efficiently and effectively. So far, social networks along with widgets and social media are most promising solutions for mobile user experience.
Social graphInternet users need to add friends one by one in order to build up their social graph. Friends discovery is only possible on large networks. In mobile case, the social graph is pre-existed in the form of contact list or phone book. There is virtually no extra effort to bootstrap the individual network.
Physical relations vs. virtual relationsMobile phone book represents the real life relationships in physical world. It is not convenient to establish virtual relationships, and the users are not used to engage people they don't know. In contrast, Internet users tend to enjoy the relationship without physical contact at various virtual communities (e.g. fans of music bands at myspace).
Public and semi-public profileOne primary attraction of Internet social networks is the profile presentation. It could be completely public or only available to friends. Self expression could be a main objective. Users spend significant amount of time in profile page construction and decoration. The expressive profile is not easy to build and to show on mobile devices. The device constraint and usage habit prevent mobile social networks from profile centric social messaging.
Activity and behavioral social messagingSince mobile devices allow users stay connected on the go, conceptually, mobile social networks are perfect candidates for
activity centric or behavior centric social messaging and interactions. IM type of messaging, Twitter type of micro blogging, FireEagle type of location based mobile social apps, and facebook type of social widgets prefer mobility by nature. The usage pattern differs from Internet in that the access could be more frequently and time span would be shorter. The overall user engagement might be higher than Internet counterpart, specially when rich media is embraced.
Social equityAside from self entertainment (media oriented activities), the objective of mobile communication is social interaction and it is the process of accumulating social equity. Since mobile social networks favor real life relations, the social equity is easier to "cash out" in physical world. In other words, users should have more incentives in mobile social interactions. In contrast, building social equity in virtual communities requires more investment in time and effort, the reward and the equity value are more difficult to realize.
In the social network evolution phases, Chinese social networks are mostly in the first or second generation based on user adoption. The big question is, given the culture difference, will Chinese social netters evolve into the third generation? If the answer is true, instead of the blooming of facebook clones in China, passive and behavior social messaging such as Twitter and FriendFeed clones in China will take off eventually.
