Social networking for the cellular community

Industry body the GSM Association (GSMA) has launched a website that it hopes will become the go to social network for companies that operate in the cellular industry.

Much like popular social networks such as Facebook or, perhaps more appropriately, the social network targeted at executives, LinkedIn, the beta version of Mobileinnovation.org enables individuals to upload full company profiles, videos and logos.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, GSMA chief commercial officer, Bill Gajda, said: “the innovation portal will help move from events such as this to a 24-7 innovation community.”

The service features ‘matchmaking’ functionality to help align firms with shared interests, selective search functionality and the ability to form discussion groups. Carriers will be able to post RFIs enabling developers to respond.

The success of the proposition relies on members posting extensive details about themselves. The theory runs that the more they post and link with other firms, the more rewarding the experience will be for everyone.

However, this could all end up being yet one more thing that stretched marketing departments need to take on board and it is difficult to see how the profiles on the portal will be richer than existing company websites, whether the search function will be any better than the likes of Google and whether the discussion groups will avoid becoming thinly veiled new business pitches for the vendor community.