Mobile Social Networking Under the Spotlight

BuzzCity, which provides global wireless communities and consumer services, has revealed the results of worldwide research conducted with users on its myGamma portal into how and why people use mobile social networking. The survey was conducted in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, North America and Western Europe and showed significant trends in an emerging market sector that are consistent across all markets, looking at when, why and how users access mobile social networking services.
Mobile social networkers are addicted to their sport, with 90% accessing the service more than once a day. In fact, half use the service at least five times a day. For the majority of users (62%), each session lasts between 30 minutes and one hour, which shows that most mobile social networkers access the site long enough to check messages from friends and see what their group is up to. In Thailand, nearly three quarters of respondents spend more than one hour online in any one session, while in the US one in five logs on for less than five minutes. BuzzCity says the time spent on the service in one session may be influenced by market forces, such as the popularity of flat-rate data packages in Thailand.

How users access the service
The research showed that although nearly all (91%) members access the site and the mobile Internet primarily via their mobile, most are not actually on the move when they log in, with an average of 80% accessing the site while at home, at work or at a desk. Most users access the social networking site from their mobile phone, which re-affirms our numerous observations that mobile phone usage tends to be closely personal, even intimate, and this personal use continues as people use the mobile Internet to extend their social networks, says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. However, what will be interesting to those in the telecommunications industry is the high proportion of users who are stationary while using the service.
The study found that Romanians, Thais and Kenyans are the least likely to surf on the go, while in India, South Africa, the UK and Nigeria, surfing while out and about is more common.   

Why users access the service
The most cited reason for logging on to myGamma was to communicate with friends, with 75% wanting to meet their friends in the chat rooms, take part in networking activities or leave messages for one another. Members have an active virtual life and nearly three in five communicate with myGamma friends as much, or more often, than with their real friends. However, about 44% of users in Nigeria, Romania and the UK say they spend less time with their online friends than with real ones. 

M-commerce
While m-commerce is not the primary reason for using myGamma, 35% of members have made a purchase online, with South Africans and Thais being particularly prolific buyers. Rich media content, such as games, ringtones and wallpaper images, is popular. Virtual goods are a fast rising sales item and are used as a networking tool in the form of gifts for online friends. Interestingly, users are over three times as likely to make a purchase when provided with special offers as with direct advertising. Kenyans are the least likely to buy anything via their mobile, with only 14% ever having purchased goods this way, which may be due to the lack of a robust billing method.
BuzzCity says the research has given the company a unique insight into the behaviour of mobile social networkers, particularly in the fast-growing markets of Asia and Africa, where wireless communities are emerging as a part of everyday life.
This research has revealed that consumers mobile social networking habits around the globe are linked by similar behaviour, despite living in different parts of the world; they are united by a desire to connect with each other, says Lai. And instead of a computer, more and more of them they are choosing to do this via the most personal of devices, their mobile phone.
What we find really exciting is that members not only use the service to network, but also to buy goods and services. This augurs well for our advertisers and merchants, who will benefit from the influence of social networks on members, and the power of referral and recommendation. In the future, as our service evolves, we are looking forward to seeing more interesting advertiser campaigns, creating a dialogue mediated by a network of friends, all powered by a multi-sided market like myGamma.
BuzzCity has just been shortlisted for Best Mobile Social Networking Service at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2008.