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NETWORK STARS BETWEEN MYSPACE AND MOBILE PHONES

Billboard Magazine, October 13, 2007

Ever since the phenomenal success of MySpace, all eyes have turned to mobile phones as the next great market for social networking.

The problem is...that hasn't happened.

Although MySpace developed fee-based mobile versions of its site for such operators as Helio and AT&T Wireless, members proved less supportive of them than the online mother ship. MySpace has since launched a free ad-supported beta version of its site available from any Internet-enabled phone, to lukewarm reviews.

A number of other social networking services designed specifically for mobile phones have gone live through the years as well, but with little fanfare and even less traffic.

Enter a new class of applications focused less on trying to re-create a social network's look and feel on mobile devices and more on harnessing the spirit behind them - communication. They're also targeting the music industry as their initial client base.

The latest is Kadoink. The service combines Web-based widgets with mobile text messaging, voice mail and live audio streaming over the mobile phone. Through a widget posted on their MySpace profile or dedicated Web site, artists can leave messages for their fans or post full tracks, which fans can then access from their mobile phone by dialing in. Fans can also leave voice or text messages for their favorite artists, which other fans can listen to or read via either the widget or the phone. Fans can even forward the audio messages and full songs to others, all via a streaming format.

"We're bridging the current gap between someone's online experience and the experience they have on a typical mobile phone," Kadoink VP of marketing Roland Deal says. "It's turning the phone into a broadcast mechanism.

This is where other mobile social networking applications stumble. They never utilized the primary benefit of mobile phones, which is communication. MySpace Mobile, for instance, merely sent users an alert when a new message was posted to their profile, or allowed them to send photos to their profile from their phones. It never tapped into that viral replication that made the online version so compelling.

Another new service, SayNow, went live in September. Like Kadoink, it focuses on connecting artists and their fans through sending and receiving voice and text messages. Rather than a widget, SayNow relies on the artists themselves to promote their SayNow phone number in TV appearances, live events or by embedding it in music videos.

Artists can use the service to trade messages, poll their fans and in some cases initiate a one-to-one phone call. The service also provides a sales channel, allowing fans to buy ringtones, wallpaper images and other content they discover when interacting with it.

If these applications seem relatively low-tech, that's by design. Their goal is not for flashy phone applications, but rather simple communication functionality. Replicating existing social networks on mobile phones generally requires a partnership between the social network site and the carrier. It also only works with certain mobile phones - generally those more expensive, feature-laden devices - not to mention a data plan.

"Kids, and particularly MySpace users, don't have fancy phones and don't have data plans," SayNow CEO Nikhyl Singhal says. "MySpace-type users don't have interest in really high-end applications."

Both services target the music industry as a way to quickly build up traffic. Artists and labels are hungry for new ways to promote their work and communicate with fans, not to mention find new revenue streams. Third Eye Blind, Kottonmouth Kings and Polysics, as well as a mix of independent and unsigned artists, have used Kadoink since its June beta launch, attracting several thousand fans each.

SayNow began its initial trials in July, and has since seen impressive response by fans. R&B singer Omarion generated more than 10,000 phone calls in less than 15 minutes when he first announced his SayNow number, while actor/singer Tyrese Gibson generated 25,000-plus responses after mentioning his during a taping of BET's "106 & Park." Megadeth's Dave Mustaine interacts with fans during concerts to invite a select few for a backstage after-party. In all, SayNow has more than 1 million fan subscribers.

Both services are free to the artist and the user. Both companies rely on the artists to generate the user traffic, and split advertising revenue with them.

Mobile social networking isn't going away. Such heavy hitters as Google, MySpace, YouTube and Nokia are all betting heavily on it with applications of their own. The result will likely be a mesh of startup services like SayNow and Kadoink somehow integrating with these broader services - with artists maintaining a presence on all.

The winning mix will be that which gives fans the most contact, content and connectivity.