Smartphones are the Future of Social Networking
The world today is becoming more portable, more mobile. A decade ago, the smartphone was a thing of future. Everyone used to see PDA’s from Sony Ericsson and Motorola as phones from the future because they revolutionized the mobile phone segment by introducing pressure-sensing touchscreens.
Today, we love smartphones, chatting, sending messages and being connected. All of those things are brought together by the idea of a tiny device that has replaced the need of physical objects including camera, calculators, navigation units/maps, alarm clock, camcorder, calendar, flashlight, newspaper and even radio.
However, what brought about the mad rush in the smartphone market is still an unanswered question. Many hail the iPhone from Apple, whereas others cite Android OS from Google as the crucial lease of life injected into the smartphone market.
Smartphones have become cheaper and will become more affordable. They have changed the way people see portable information as well as the internet. According to comScore, three out of five US smartphone owners of ages 13 and older access social networking or blog sites. The usage of social media platforms is on the increase thanks to the growth of smartphones and today the phrase ‘mobile social media management’ is a key buzzword. The small keypad on the smartphone makes texting easy on popular networking applications like Facebook.
A new study by Flurry reveals that today people spend more time on social networking websites via their smartphones as compared to gaming. When compared with the same period in 2011, current usage has jumped by 60%, which is encouraging for social media platforms as they can now focus on providing more mobile-friendly content and applications.
Today it is all about one-touch solutions. Whatever software service you may require is readily available either online or offline. Both the categories together make up the smartphone application market, which is expanding in big leaps every year. Enterprises are finding huge marketing potential in smartphone applications as these apps can convey business deals, offers and services more accurately to potential customers. Location-based marketing and sales is possible because of the high levels of portability smartphones offered.
A recent World Bank and InfoDev study puts some amazing facts about smartphone usages. According to the report, nearly 75% of the global population has access to some form of mobile telephone communication. Over 30 billion mobile app downloads took place in 2011 in the combined OS category consisting of iOS, Android and Windows. (There are proprietary Java-based and other platform-based OS available for smartphones too).
The prominence of smartphones in social media is evident from Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram for nearly $1 Billion. Facebook values the importance of smartphones and the impact a smartphone application like Instagram can have on its overall brand image. Applications streamline information throughout mobile social media and hence facilitate easy access and modification of content in different social feeds.
The rise in smartphone popularity has definitely changed the way we describe the terms ‘internet’ and ‘globalization’. Cheaper tariffs, higher comfort and strong interfaces are what mark out smartphones as the device of the future.
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About the Guest Author:
Mandira Srivastava is a fulltime freelance writer who specializes in technology, health and fitness, politics, and financial writing. Equipped with degree of mass communication and having worked for both private and corporate clients, I have experience meeting a wide range of writing requirements and styles.
