From Mashable – While Twitter may be getting the majority of the press in the Facebook-Twitter competition, Facebook’s still the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Today the world’s largest social network made that clear by announcing that they now have more than 300 million users.

In a blog post, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the social network’s constant growth and also announced that the company was self-sustaining and cash-flow positive, not a small feat by any means considering the relative trouble they’ve had monetizing. Being able to generate a profit opens the door to many possibilities, including an IPO.

The announcement also means that Facebook grew from 200 million users to 300 million in just over 5 months. It took 8 months to reach 200 million from 100 million, and it took years to reach the 100 million user milestone. This is a company that is growing faster, not slower, than its competition.

As the company continues its all-out assault on Twitter, it’s easy to forget that it simply has more users than its upstart rival. By the end of the year, there should be 18 million Twitter users. That’s not even 1/15 of the current size of Facebook.

Mashable, Read more

Facebook Now Has Over 300 Million Users.

itsmy.com just released what is probably the largest ever survey in the area of mobile social networks. More than 15,000 users took part from the US, UK, Spain, and Italy. Looking at consumer usage patterns, preferences, and statistics, this report really shows how deeply involved some consumers are with mobile social networks.

The worldwide survey was conducted on the mobile internet amongst 15,000 active itsmy.com users between September and November 2008. The age range was between 16 and 52 years. All had current mobile phone types and were from more than 30 different mobile operators.

Although you would expect this sort of sample would consist of people that are interested in mobile social networks, what I found interesting was that it shows how deep this involvement can be.

For example, here is a question about means of communicating with friends and family, and it’s clear that the mobile is the overwhelming choice for communications.

And this isn’t simply a question of people using mobile to access their PC based social network. In fact, across all 4 countries roughly 60% to 70% said that the PC and mobile “have completely different stuff on them.”

Read More  http://www.mobilopen.org/index.php/2008/12/17/148-survey-reveals-intense-dedication-to-mobile-social-networks

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest Mobile + Social Maketing Strategy.

Evolving handset technology and more sophisticated mobile apps are driving up mobile social network usage.

Consumers using mobile social networks today are mainly checking messages, status updates and comments of friends rather than posting photos or comments themselves, according to a recent study by ABI Research. However, this pattern is changing as more consumers have access to better-equipped mobile phones and mobile social network applications that allow for easy uploading and communication.

“As the adoption of smartphones increases, more consumers who use online social networks want to be able to connect on the go, to be more active and upload photos,” said Michael Wolf, research director at ABI Research. “The current demographic for mobile social networking tends to be people who already use online social networks—more tech-savvy and skewing a little bit younger.

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“Social networking, as a whole, is broadening, and we’ll see the same phenomenon on mobile,” he said. “Mobile social networking’s audience will broaden over time to mirror the trend of the online space, eventually reaching the mass market.”

Today more than 60 percent of those who access a social network on their phone do so mainly to check for messages or comments from friends, compared to less than 30 percent who upload photos, according to the ABI study.

Evolving handset technology and more sophisticated mobile apps are driving up mobile social network usage.

Consumers using mobile social networks today are mainly checking messages, status updates and comments of friends rather than posting photos or comments themselves, according to a recent study by ABI Research. However, this pattern is changing as more consumers have access to better-equipped mobile phones and mobile social network applications that allow for easy uploading and communication.

“As the adoption of smartphones increases, more consumers who use online social networks want to be able to connect on the go, to be more active and upload photos,” said Michael Wolf, research director at ABI Research. “The current demographic for mobile social networking tends to be people who already use online social networks—more tech-savvy and skewing a little bit younger.

“Social networking, as a whole, is broadening, and we’ll see the same phenomenon on mobile,” he said. “Mobile social networking’s audience will broaden over time to mirror the trend of the online space, eventually reaching the mass market.”

Today more than 60 percent of those who access a social network on their phone do so mainly to check for messages or comments from friends, compared to less than 30 percent who upload photos, according to the ABI study.

link to read more http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/2286.html

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest tools to link Social Networks to your mobile marketing programs.