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"Cheng Wu is the co-founder and chairman of Azuki Systems.\nAs mobile social networks gain popularity, many are wondering how to ride the wave of this phenomenon. Leveraging the 3.3 billion potential mobile screens and the viral capabilities of social media, new forms of collaboration and media sharing will emerge and drive new sources of revenue. \nAs a result, we\u2019ll see mobile social networking expand to build community around Web, user-generated and existing premium content \u2013 allowing users to discover and enjoy relevant content, rate and comment on high interest points, and share these elements with friends and colleagues, leading to a more vibrant, dynamic environment across both mobile and the desktop.\nThe Bad News\nToday\u2019s mobile social networks are admittedly primitive \u2013 confined to two fairly unattractive choices. Users can:\n1.  Access a mobile portal in an existing desktop community, where the experience is flat and text-oriented, or \n2.  Explicitly join a new mobile community in isolation. \nIt\u2019s clear that change is needed.\nThe Good News\nThe broad availability of rich media-capable handsets is a harbinger of change, and with the increasing availability of platforms to enable interactive mobile media services, we\u2019re also seeing the world of mobile evolve into a highly engaging and interactive means of sharing personalized and relevant content. \nThis evolving breed of mobile phones, along with the accessibility of one\u2019s favorite content on mobile in bite-sized chunks that provide simplified navigation, is redefining the way people interact around content services. Mobile users are actively involved in sharing this \u2018snackable\u2019 content with friends and peers, voicing their opinions in online blogs, and viewing rich media content on a small, yet highly capable, mobile screen. \nAdditionally, mobile social networks are starting to incorporate location-awareness and contextualization capabilities to fine-tune the mobile experience and allow for more fluid formation of communities of interest around local events, news, sports or as an interesting clip that is quickly disseminated among friends. The viral, real-time nature, as well as the inherent contextual awareness, will expand both viewership and monetization options for content publishers, mobile operators and social networking brands.\nWhat\u2019s Next?\nInteractive, Snackable ContentIn order for mobile social networking to reach its potential, it needs to enable and be driven by interactive mobile content. This interactivity (in the form of rating, ranking, commenting, etc.) is key to enhancing the \u2018stickiness\u2019 of personalized and targeted mobile content in a snackable form. In addition, with the inclusion of these features, relevancy to the individual user is also greatly enhanced, increasing the likelihood of participation.\nFocus on Content, Not the CommunityTo be successful and wide-spread, mobile social networking should revolve around the sharing of interactive, snackable, relevant content \u2013 and hinge much less on the sharing solely within a particular community.  This new model implies cross-community dissemination, whereby group members are fluid and determined based on relevancy of said content. For this reason, it is important to keep in mind that adopting a one-size-fits-all approach for addressing social networks will be a mistake, and mobile users should not be pushed into any one particular network \u2013 but rather extend collaboration across Facebook, MySpace and other sites. \nIntegrate the DataMobile social networking will prove to be more about integrating mobile social data with desktop data and less about mobile specific data mining. Community data should be independent of the device that is used to access it. It needs to be a cloud resource in the Internet, accessible from all access devices including desktop PC\u2019s and mobile handsets. Content publishers need to be able to leverage the existing content that is available on the desktop, and then have the ability to optimize it for personalized interaction on a mobile device.\nContext-Enabled Social CommunitiesMobile social networking also will involve real-time functionality and contextual awareness, with location-based services driving communication among physical communities. In that manner, and as interactive local content is rapidly disseminated, enthusiasm is generated about local happenings and local vendors, increasing the likelihood of service monetization and the overall success of mobile retailing.\nMonetizeIt follows then that mobile social networking represents the opportunity to monetize based on layered viral social activities over original content. For example, a pre-roll advertisement optimized for mobile consumption stands to be distributed to thousands of mobile users through user-initiated sharing of content on social networking sites. This radically increases CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) and drives revenue beyond a publishers own direct marketing efforts. Instead of the Web model of driving \u201Ceyeballs\u201D to the ads, users drive the ads to the eyeballs. \nThere have already been some initial successes in mobile social networking that are now laying the foundation for this massive new category of advertising. By creating a more personalized experience for mobile users through contextual and bite-sized content, users naturally interact and share more through mobile mash-ups of this snackable content, involving contacts from their social networks. This creates an opportunity for viral mobile advertising where embedded mobile ads are shared along with the contextual content.  \nWith interactive, personalized and snackable mobile content, the mobilization of fixed-Web social networks is indeed poised for growth and success.\nCheng Wu is the co-founder and chairman of Azuki Systems, which provides the industry\u2019s first comprehensive interactive mobile media services platform, and is responsible for the company\u2019s vision and corporate strategy.  Wu is a successful serial entrepreneur and well-acclaimed industry veteran, having founded and led numerous businesses including ArrowPoint (acquired by Cisco for $5.7 billion), Arris Networks (acquired by Cascade Communications for $217 million) and Acopia (acquired by F5 Networks for $210 million).\nImage courtesy of iStockPhoto, lindsayking, tforgo"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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