Facebook Set To Flex It's Muscle

The founder and CEO of social networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced on Thursday that the social network intends to extend its reach further into the world wide web.

The new initiative, Facebook Connect, will enable application developers to connect with Facebook from external sites, instead of simply via the Facebook Plaform as is currently the case.

"Facebook Connect is our version of Facebook for the rest of the web" commented Zuckerberg during his keynote address to the second annual Facebook conference in San Francisco.

If Facebook Connect is met with anywhere near the same reception as the Facebook Apps Platform launch in May 2007, then Facebook could be set to become more than simply the worlds largest social network. In much the same way as Microsoft revolutionised offline software development through the 90's, Facebook could be set to do the same to online applications.

The stated mission of Facebook is to make the world a more "transparent" place to live. By opening up the ability to connect third-party apps via the Facebook user database, Zuckerberg and co. could be about to take a large step towards their transparency mission.

Remember - smiles, laughter and only good things :-)

iPhone To Kickstart Mobile Marketing

The recent launch of the iPhone 3G phone to the global market has been received with huge attention. It is said to of sold over 1 million units in its first couple of days after launch. To many, me included, this is no surprise. Especially considering the recent success of the Apple brand, via both its iPod range and it's new Mac Book and Mac Book Pro's.

However, what will the impact of the iPhone be on business and marketing in general? This is also a question that has had much attention coming it's way.

Well according to forecasts, the mobile advertising industry is set to expand by 300% this calendar year and next as well. This is in no small part thanks to the release of the iPhone. Businesses are set to invest more in mobile content development, enabling mobile videos and advertising to be received directly into the pockets of consumers.

Another key channel is the ability for businesses to develop brand relevant applications for the iPhone. Apple have already opened a user friendly distribution channel for this, via its App Store in iTunes. People are able to download either free or paid applications for use on their iPhones, and are doing so by the thousands. This could soon see businesses becoming more involved in application development, as we've already seen start to happen on social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace.

Businesses are now more than ever before also able to recreate their websites for use on mobile devices. Whilst this option has been around for some time now, it is only now being readily used thanks to the growing uptake of Blackberry devices and now iPhones.

The new generation of Mobile devices are being well received by the public. So much so that at the moment, businesses are still lagging behind. However, the options are wide ranging for businesses to increase their involvement in the mobile revolution, and according to all predictions, this is just around the corner.

What are some early gems that you have seen from various businesses in terms of mobile marketing campaigns?

Remember - smiles, laughter and only good things :-)