• Reuters, Friday, February 20, 2009 10:45 AM

Social networks have been all the rage at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Reuters reports, as wireless industry executives line up to become the new best friend of MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo. Handset makers and mobile operators alike understand that the "spontaneous and personal nature" of the mobile phone lends itself perfectly to social networking.

For instance, CEO Chris DeWolfe points out that MySpace's mobile usage has more than quadrupled in the last year to 20 million users, out of 135 million total unique visitors. Facebook has also seen a similar leap. "This is really just the start of where we're going with this," DeWolfe told Reuters. At the show, MySpace announced deals with Nokia and Palm, who will add features to their phones that make uploading pictures or video the matter of pushing a single button. DeWolfe is confident that most smartphone makers will feature MySpace on their phones in the coming year. He is also confident that mobile advertising will be a huge revenue source for the News Corp. company. "That will take you into a whole new realm," DeWolfe said. "We are focused on creating a large, profitable business."

Meanwhile, the so-called "Facebook Phone," the Social Mobile from INQ, won handset of the year at the Mobile World Congress for the phone's seamless integration of social networking features.

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