Comscore reports that two-thirds of the worldwide internet audience regularly visits social networks. This trend is universal. In South Korea, considered by many to be the world's most developed social network nation, more than 90% of teens and almost half of the entire populations are members of Cyworld. In the US 80% of the young adults, 60% of teens and 30% of adults use social networks. And in the UK 90% of the teens spend time on these sites.
Social networks have become a primary destination for a rapidly expanding universe of online users for managing and enriching a digital lifestyle. The sites provide the ability for users to communicate, to develop their identities, to build a network of relationships, to find information, to share experiences and self-generated content, to buy products, and more.
With the numerous communication tools at their disposal, social networks are becoming integrated communication hubs. The integration of MySpace and Skype, for example, illustrates how social networks and communication applications can converge to benefit users. With more than 118 million active MySpace users and over 370 million Skype registered users around the world, this partnership connects two of the most popular communication platforms to create the world's largest online voice network.
A number of telcos are already responding to the challenges and opportunities of social networking. In 2003, for example, SK telecom acquired Cyworld and is now generating approximately $200 million per year selling digital items and advertising. Telecom operators such as Sprint, AT&T and Vodafone enable MySpace and Facebook members to access their profiles from their cellphones. And Vodafone recently launched 'Connect to Friends', a Facebook application that enables Vodafone and non-Vodafone subscribers to communicate with each other from either a PC or a mobile phone.
Communication evolution
The widespread social networking phenomenon is a reflection of shifts in two long-term communication trends:
- Communication patterns are changing from personal and conversational to group communication and collaboration, augmented with links, videos, photos and multimedia content that substantially enrich the communications experience.
- Communication control is transitioning from provider-controlled environments to open internet service providers and greater opportunities for user participation.
The so-called 'Net Generation,' who has grown up in a technology-enabled and internet-connected environment is at the forefront of shifting communication patterns. Their preference is for staying connected, sharing, creating content, multitasking, assembling random information into patterns and using technology in new ways. They are the wisdom-of-crowds generation that grew up rating peers, physical attributes, products and services.
These Digital Natives are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital languages of computers, the internet, video games and the mobile phone, and often living in a state of continuous partial attention. For many of them, social networking is supplanting email, and even voice, as the preferred method of communication. But the shift away from traditional communications to social networking is not limited to this generation. A growing number of adults now use social networking to get what they want from each other, instead of from traditional media and institutions.
The second trend, the shifting control of communication media from the domain of telcos toward a more open communication platform, is the result of widespread availability and affordability of connectivity and communication tools/devices. With better, cheaper technologies and greater use of broadband, the internet and wireless networks, over-the-top (OTT) providers, such as social networking sites, are becoming ever-more viable platforms for communication services - and consumers are responding eagerly.
Impact of shifts
For the providers of services, telcos and OTT providers, the combination of shifts in communication control and patterns is redefining the competitive landscape, giving rise to new business models. In contrast with traditional communication models, emerging models are based on open platforms that support many-to many and/or collaborative communication patterns (see figure above).