Japanese Ad-Funded Mobile Social Networking Service Makes U.K. Debut; But Will Success Follow?
It’s ironic that some companies can be so upbeat about transferring Japanese services to Europe at a time when O2 has officially pulled the plug on i-mode. But that doesn’t discourage the companies behind mobikade (which include Sogo Shosha ITOCHU Corporation and Excite Co Ltd.). They have brought their ad-funded social networking service, which also lets users earn rewards for their interacting with their friends, to the U.K. (More in this release.)
In a nutshell, mobikade lets users update their friends on their every move and emotion – and post the whole lot on a mobile-accessible website from their mobile phones. To make sure the exchange keeps a high momentum, the service rewards every interaction with points, which users can cash in to send free text messages, for example. A clever and virtuous circle. The service also makes the most of the moment by plugging free downloadable content where users can see it.
However, I have to side with the sceptics, who wonder whether social networks will appreciate advertising and advertisers playing a role in their personal space. (But it can happen – and my favorite success story is German-based mobile-only community Peperonity, which does a great job of monetizing its traffic with the help of AdMob and some major consumer brands.) Even if users will accept the advertising, it’s uncertain if mobikade can make it as a D2C play in a country outside Japan, where it’s bound to hit up against Internet destinations that mobile operators are hard-selling as part of their own offer. (MySpace and Bebo, to name a few…)
Sure, mobikade can spend money to cross advertise in traditional media – but a tie-up with a major media company/brand may be the better strategy. Either way, mobikade has its work cut out for it.
July 31st, 2007 at 11:11 pm
[...] Japanese Ad-Funded Mobile Social Networking Service Makes UK Debut … In a nutshell, mobikade lets users update their friends on their every move and emotion ? and post the whole lot on a mobile-accessible website from their mobile phones. To make sure the exchange keeps a high momentum, … [...]
August 1st, 2007 at 2:04 am
[...] Japanese Ad-Funded Mobile Social Networking Service Makes U.K. Debut; But Will Success Follow? – Japanese Ad-Funded Mobile Social Networking Service Makes U.K. Debut; But Will Success Follow? It’s ironic that some companies can be so upbeat about transferring Japanese services to Europe at a time when O2 has officially pulled the plug on i-mode. But that doesn’t discourage the companies behind mobikade (Cellphone penetration positions it for marketing success – Cellphone penetration into the South African market and the advancement of mobile marketing means the cellphone will soon compete with traditional media head-on. The days of colourless cellphones screens with no graphics and tiny squeaky speakers are but a distant memory to most of us. We now carry devices with full multimedia functionality,T-Mobile to double web’n’walk base – T-Mobile to double web’n’walk base Posted by jfales under Mobile Advertising No Comments T-Mobile expects to double the number of people logging on to its web’n’walk internet service by the end of the year, with social networking sites and Vodafone’s internet mobile ads driving mobile web use T-Mobile said more than half a million people areAdvertising! The new business model – A few months ago 3 UK announced they were going to provide free ad funded TV on the mobile. A number of other operators around the world have been following suite such as Vodafone in Australia. We all predicted it would happen and it makes perfect sense as we all know that content on the mobile will only really be consumed when it is freeExtending the virtual concierge to cover the whole journey – Airlines and travel management companies (TMCs) looking for ways to differentiate their service and increase ancillary revenues should consider providing travellers with an opt-in, virtual concierge that offers advice and assistance for the entire trip. Valuable Assistance = Time + Location + Context In recent postings I’ve looked at how a [...]
August 12th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
It’s scary to have AD funded mobile social networks because of the risk of spam.
August 13th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Pete, that’s a real danger – but not one that the industry is taking seriously enough at this point. Users (would rather just say people) are protective of their personal space and schemes like this will likely nose-dive if companies don’t work on an opt-in basis.