MYSPACE.Com Unveils Mobile Website!

I know it has been a minute since we've heard the word MYSPACE. However, in the age of social networking and people connecting - it is in fact still a viable player.

Even as Facebook continues to define the social networking segment, with its reported 70% - 84% ownership in this market sector, direct competitors like MYSPACE and now Google (search engine) are keeping their eye on the "Big Dog" and making moves. In six short years (founded in 2004), Facebook.com has become the leading global social networking site, with about 70% of Facebook.com users outside of the United States. It boasts two-thirds of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites integrated within the Facebook.com platform, it is proving that their business model works. Driven by this idea that people are hard-wired to associate their friends faces, opinions and actions around their own lifestyle decisions and choices, Facebook.com continues to build platforms, re-define marketing product cycles and the idea of communication. Facebook.com with its myriad of tools digital and mobile landscape is effectively incentivizing businesses and helping them design products around people. The "user-centric" environment is driving business and justifying its revenue model - "Facebook ads."

Now, with an estimated 2.8 billion mobile phones in use worldwide, and 1.6 million being added daily, that overall number is expected to swell to 4 billion by 2011. The entire mobile industry, including advertisers, manufacturers, software developers and carrier networks, generates annual revenue of nearly $1 trillion, according to market researcher Informa.

So, it would make absolute sense that as we move into 2011, Myspace Inc. would launch a new mobile Web site and iPhone application to further extend the site's social entertainment experience to mobile devices.

Apparently, more than a third of Myspace's Generation -Y users are interacting with the site on mobile devices every day, and the new offerings would meet their need to consume entertainment news and content anytime, anywhere and from any device. While the mobile site and application will be ad-supported, there are currently no launch sponsors.

"The new Myspace mobile experience brings discovery to the forefront with a focus on entertainment content and allows our users to enjoy all of that content without requiring them to log in'"a big change from our previous offering that reflects our new direction as a social entertainment destination," said Bjorn Laurin, vice president and general manager of mobile at Myspace, Beverly Hills, CA.

I am pretty sure that with the launch of MYSPACE mobile, the company expects to take a bite out of the "Big Dog" ( Facebook) estimated $1.6 billion ad revenue and 500 million users as we move into heavy competition and rev-up for the new year.

For more on the new Myspace mobile Web site, visit http://m.myspace.com on all iPhone, iPod touch, Android and Palm smartphones, as well as select Nokia and BlackBerry devices.

Hmmm.....this is starting to shape up to be an interesting one to watch!