A T&T Inc. announced the
launch of "My Communities," a new downloadable gateway that lets users
create and manage multiple social networking accounts through a single
dashboard view on their mobile phone. My Communities was developed by
Intercasting Corporation, a leading mobile social networking company.
The launch coincides with recent data showing that a majority of social
networking users maintain multiple accounts and that a growing number
are maintaining their social networks primarily by using wireless
handsets. Application Features
My Communities currently
offers a diverse roster of social networks, including MySpace, the
mobile-only community Rabble, blogging sites including LiveJournal and
Xanga and the photo-sharing site Photobucket. My Communities also
features sites whose members share common characteristics such as
ethnicity (AsianAve, BlackPlanet, MiGente), faith (FaithBase) or sexual
orientation (GLEE). Subscribers get instant access to additional sites
as soon as they are added to My Communities and will be alerted to
updates when they launch the application -- no upgrade is required.
Through My Communities, subscribers can register for social sites
directly from their phone without ever having to go to the Web, a
feature not common with most other social networking applications.
From an easy-to-use dashboard view, My Communities users can upload
photos from their phone, view and respond to new messages, approve and
deny friend requests and view and post new comments across multiple
sites. Users can alternatively click to enter a specific site for a
more customized experience. Updates are synched across mobile and
online channels in real time.
Subscribers can also access their phone, camera, media gallery and
address book while My Communities is running, which enables them, for
example, to upload photos to use on one or more social networks and
send site content to phone contacts without closing the application.
"Our social networking applications are among our highest-performing
category, and we anticipate sustained interest from consumers as social
networks continue to explode in popularity and diversify in purpose,"
said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Products for AT&T's
wireless unit. "The My Communities application brings unmatched
simplicity, increased functionality and deeper integration to this
space, a combination we believe will win over active users and
newcomers alike."
John Faith, general manager and vice president of MySpace Mobile,
said: "MySpace is dedicated to giving all users access to our global
community and creating a deeply engaging mobile experience on AT&T.
AT&T's My Communities application from Intercasting provides a new
channel for our users to connect with each other in ways that fit their
on-the-go lifestyle."
Mobile Social Networking
Mobile social
networking is on the rise, with analysts forecasting that more than 800
million people worldwide will access social networks through their
mobile phones by 2012, up from 82 million in 2007, according to
eMarketer.
"Mobile social networking involves more than just shrink-wrapping
social networking sites for the mobile device," says John du Pre
Gauntt, senior mobile analyst for eMarketer. "It is one of the best
opportunities for the mobile ecosystem to drive mobile Internet use to
levels comparable to online Internet use."
The AT&T application builds on Intercasting's robust ANTHEM®
platform, which enables wireless carriers the option to provide a host
of Web-based community and social networking sites to subscribers.
ANTHEM also enables social networking site providers, major brands and
entertainment properties to easily create social networking initiatives
for the mobile platform. With ANTHEM, AT&T has the ability to
quickly launch any social networking site in the future.
"Social networking continues to grow exponentially on the Web, and
with so many mobile subscribers, it is clear that we have only seen the
tip of the iceberg in mobile social networking," said Shawn Conahan,
founder and chief executive of Intercasting. "We are excited to be
serving AT&T, MySpace and so many other popular social networking
partners to bring a mobile-centric representation of these addictive,
popular communities to consumers."
My Communities is available on more than 30 devices for a monthly
subscription of $2.99. It can be downloaded from the AT&T MEdia
Mall, accessible via AT&T handsets and online at www.att.com/mediamall.