ABI Research found that “mobile social communities” currently count nearly 50 mln members worldwide, a number that is expected to reach 174 mln in 2011.
Opportunities to monetize mobile social communities fall into several main categories. Mobile operators profit from the data usage that underpins all mobile community activities they carry, and in some cases from monthly subscription fees as well. Companies can sponsor special interest communities that relate directly to their brands or services. For instance, MTV Asia sponsors a music forum for Asian users, where members talk about music. (In fact mobile social community sites will see their greatest growth, on both a percentage basis and absolute number of members, in the Asia-Pacific region.) The self-profiling nature of these communities means that advertising can be targeted to specific niches with great accuracy
