Social Networking, Cell Phone | featured news

Facebook is working with mobile phone maker INQ Mobile Ltd to create two smartphone devices that may have a network tie up with AT&T Inc, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Social mobility is big business. Normally I don’t pay a lot of attention to the rumor mill. But in the case of a Facebook “affinity” phone, even if 90% of existing Facebook subscribers decide not to buy such device, it still represents a very big market; 50 million or so phones.

Nokia has announced it will bring social networking to the masses on its freshly minted C3, C6 and E5 phones. This comes just a day after Microsoft did the same for mobile Windows users, and Sony Ericsson is promising to catch up. The Nokia phones will communcate with Facebook and Twitter, as well as Ovi Mail and Chat. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson's Spiro and Zylo add Walkman branding to the inevitable Facetwit connections, as money ceases to be a barrier to social networking.

More Americans get their news from the Internet than from newspapers or radio, and three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites, according to a new report.

"I didn't really use Facebook that much until I got my iPhone." Sound familiar? That sentiment and variations of it has provided powerful anecdotal evidence over the past several months about the impact smartphones are having on the way people are using the mobile web to connect with others.

Many states have laws against texting while driving. But many also are more than happy to tweet you about the traffic conditions.

Google are expected to unveil a social-networking mobile phone today, which integrates online-sharing sites Twitter and Facebook and Flickr into its software.