• GigaOm, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 11 AM

GigaOm writer Om Malik thinks that Facebook's future lies on the mobile phone. He admits to barely visiting the site from his laptop, preferring instead to use his iPhone to send messages, update his status and check friends' updates on the news feed. "The ad- and clutter-free interface has fewer distractions and makes using Facebook a breeze," he says.

Malik is one of 25 million Facebook mobile users and one of 4 million who access the device on a daily basis. That's a big chunk of Facebook's 150 million registered user base, and one that represents the company's future, he says. The rise of the iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold and other smartphones means "we are at the cusp of a new era in which the mobile and the wired web converge." Throw in location-based services, Malik says, and this would create "a new real-time and highly contextual Internet experience."

He adds: "In this brave new world, the browser-centric method of 'search, find and consume' is quaint at best." Instead, the mobile experience revolves around your location and your address book (which on Facebook is your social graph). Marrying the two puts your relationships at your fingertips with even greater immediacy.

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