Social networking has been around since late 1800s. However, the term became popular only after the successful launch of Facebook. Facebook, and other similar services, have changed the way we interact and do business. Let's look at some numbers (dated Jan/15/2010):

• Social media spending is expected to increase from $716M in 2008 to $3.1B in 2014
• 86% of marketers plan to increase their social marketing budget in 2010
• Pepsi dropped its Super Bowl ad this year but they are investing in a $20M social media campaign
• Best Buy has 2500 employees on Twitter to help its customers
• 99% of retailers plan to have a Facebook page by 2011
• 83% of CMOs are tracking their number of fans in social media
• 68% of small businesses plan to increase their social media marketing in the next year
• 46% of Facebook users say that they would talk about or recommend a product on Facebook

Social media platforms are attracting more visitors because people like to find other link-minded people to connect with. Consequently, businesses that are consistently looking for new ways to connect with their customers find these media a phenomenal place which deserves more investment and attention.
It is apparent that social media are emerging as the communication platform for businesses and consumers. It is getting more difficult nowadays to dismiss the impact of social media in our life. If you have any teenagers around, just see how much time they spend on Facebook, Twitter or Myspace. They use these platforms to communicate with their friends and get involved in the communities that they like. 'Facebook me' and 'Twitter me' are heard more and more everyday.
Social media, in their current form, have replaced the traditional online interactions. You don't just email your friends anymore to ask if their company is hiring. Instead, you can look for a job on LinkedIn, find out if any of your friends know anybody in the hiring company and then ask for an introduction. Your network is much bigger now and you can do much more than what you used to do with an email. Social media is the next generation of online interactions.
Now, let's look at phone services as another form of communication. People have been making phone calls for more than 100 years now. Granted, we have seen many devices and improvements in quality and services but the basic idea remains the same: Pick up your phone and call your friend. That's all! There is nothing social-media-like about your phone services. It's like the traditional email with two differences:

1. You speak instead of writing
2. It's in realtime; in a sense it's similar to Instant Messaging (IM)

Considering the evolutionary road from the traditional email/IM to online social media, what would phone services look like if they take the same path? The answer is what we call: Social Phone Services
For example, let's say you are talking to one of your friends on your phone (cell, home, work, etc). In the middle of your conversation you feel that what you just talked about, or are talking about, might be interesting to a group of your friends. Social phone services could enable you to let your friends know about the call you are on and allow them to join your call without you having to put your ongoing conversation on-hold. You may want to allow them to comment on your call or share your call with their friends. Obviously, we don't want to share every single conversation that we have; just like the way we don't want to write every single message on our friends' wall.
Social phone services can also come to rescue the phone companies who are threatened by services like Google Voice (only if they stop charging an arm and a leg for the basic service and start thinking about how they can add value to their customers' life). The basic phone connectivity will shortly become a commodity and phone companies will not benefit from it. However, social phone services will create new opportunities and phone companies can consider business models like the ones adopted by Facebook or other social networking sites.

Labels: Social phone services

What are social phone services and how can we benefit from them?