Elgan: When LinkedIn knows where you are

Computerworld - Within two years, I believe mobile social networking will become the most valuable business application since e-mail.

Instant messaging started out as a social life booster for teens, but evolved into a vital form of business communication. Social networking also got big first on MySpace, where teens decorated their pages with goofy pictures and the latest MP3s, but evolved into a widely used business networking tool on LinkedIn and other sites.

As we speak, the convergence of social networking and mobility is starting to grow worldwide among teenagers and young adults. ABI Research predicts that mobile social networking will reach 90 million new users over the next four years and rake in $3.3 billion.

Soon, like IM and PC-based social networking before it, the phenomenon will spread to business users for business purposes.

What is mobile social networking?

Mobile social networking is similar to regular social networking, but on a cell phone rather than a PC, and using location-based applications and hardware to augment social interaction.

Social networking is all about maintaining relationships and fostering community. Obviously, business people need to do that as well. But the mobile upgrade of social networking lets you get out of the office and connect with people face-to-face and take better advantage of in-person meetings and interactions that you're already having.

The idea of mobile social networking is to take advantage of four things:

1. Location, which will be figured out by our cell phones using GPS, tower triangulation (how close to cell phone towers) and Wi-Fi (when indoors).
2. Communication, both voice and data.
3. Social networking software.
4. Products and services.

The secret sauce here is location. Services will know where your phone is, and therefore will know where "you" are. That will improve the relevance of searches and facilitate real face-to-face interactions that will change how business works.

Who will provide the products and services?

The major players in this space, of course, will be existing carriers and handset makers and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Google plans to dominate this space, and I'm sure Microsoft will want to play eventually as well.

Google's Android platform may be widely used for the development of business mobile social networking very soon. But a lesser-known Google acquisition, called Zingku, may give Google a head start in mobile social networking.

Nokia acquired a company called Plazes, which provides location-centric social and product services.

But because this is an entirely new area, the field is up for grabs. Relatively unknown newcomers going after the youth social life market could grow to dominate business mobile social networking as well, or could be acquired by a major deep-pocket player and transformed for business. Some of these companies include AirG, Bluepulse, CenceMe, GyPSii, Mobimii, Moblr, MocoSpace, NearConn, WhosHere, Whrrl and ZKOUT.