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Mobile life is blooming. Some 47 mobile social network companies have emerged globally, to help cater to our need to message and communicate while on the go.

But what about the huge incumbents, like MySpace or Facebook? Will they thrive on the mobile web?

Well, the 47 mobile-only networks will probably tell you that mobile is a whole different animal, and downplay the threat of a switch by their millions of users to those big guys. But in reality, even though some mobile-only social networks have gotten big — Mocospace, for example, has 1 billion page views worldwide, most of it in the US — their computer-based rivals are catching up now that new wireless devices, such as the iPhone, are making it easier for internet apps to transition to mobile.

My goal for this article was to find the top ten most significant social mobile companies.

It was difficult reporting. With so many different players competing in the mobile social network space, we’re seeing a lot of different approaches and fragmentation. For my own thinking, I sketched out a diagram during lunch with an entrepreneur (see above for a cleaned up version of it). It’s partly based on generalizations, but it’ll give you an idea of what’s happening here in the U.S.

I’ve organized the mobile social companies into four groups. In addition to heavyweights MySpace and Facebook, I’ve picked eight companies — based on market share, differentiation through features, niche market and technology — that seem to be emerging as the most significant players.

[Disclosure: I consult for one of the companies named here, Peperoni.]

Group 1: The internet heavyweights – MySpace and Facebook
When I talked to MySpace and Facebook to see what kind of uptake they’d been seeing on their mobile sites (eg. m.myspace.com) I got quite a surprise. According to the user numbers they provided, both companies have already passed Mocospace.

MySpace’s Brandon Lucas, Senior Director of Mobile Business Development told me MySpace Mobile USA had 1.4 billion visits last month. That’s compared to 1 billion visits to Mocospace this March, according to Mocospace CEO Justin Siegel. A source at Facebook confirmed to me that Facebook Mobile has also passed Mocospace’s numbers in the USA, too, but didn’t give me specific numbers. Expect announcements on that in the coming weeks.

MySpace Mobile launched in December 2006, followed by Facebook Mobile a month later. The growth of MySpace Mobile and Facebook Mobile is mainly due to operator deals that put them “ondeck.” MySpace and Facebook are looking to close as many deals with operators as possible. For Myspace Mobile, the goal is to be available on-deck with “every major operator, everywhere,” Lucas says. As of now, MySpace Mobile has signed 23 carriers in 13 countries, and we expect the number to rise. M-Metrics told MySpace Mobile around three weeks ago that they are the fastest growing mobile site in the US, says Lucas.

The barrier to traffic growth, according to Lucas, is awareness. Expect more banner ads for MySpace Mobile on its web site very soon to raise awareness. MySpace is willing to split revenue with operators, he says. Despite the split, “mobile advertising has grown in the last six months to be a real business for us”, he adds. He sees MySpace as playing the same role on mobile devices as it does on the web. He wants MySpace to be a “mobile advertising driver” for the industry — and wants to lure the brands advertising on its online version to add mobile advertising too. He said MySpace Mobile “wants to build a business for everybody” and that “we will share insights for everybody to profit.”

I also asked Lucas to comment on a MySpace strategy statement I came across in Stuart Dredge’s recent article on social mobile networking in New Media Age: ”We expect that half of our total traffic will be coming from mobile devices within the next five years,” the article quoted a MySpace representative as saying. Brandon said that’s a January quote from MySpace CEO Chris De Wolfe and reaffirms that mobile is one of the Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the latest action:

March Madness alerts — Palo Alto mobile search company 4INFO will send you an alert in the final minutes of any of NCAA March Madness game that looks like it could be an upset. It sends final scores too. To sign up, text TOURNEY ALERTS to 44636, or signup at the company’s site.

Coffee-house entrepreneurs — The SF Chronicle has a piece about the SF entrepreneurs who launch companies at coffee houses, exploiting the WiFi connections at places like Starbucks. Problem is when the competition finds out. We remember once meeting wiki company Jot’s founder Joe Kraus at Coupa Cafe, a place where Ross Mayfield, of competitor Socialtext, often had his alter-office.

Dick Costello, chief exec of Feedburner, starts blog — He focuses on entrepreneurship, and has some good tips about how to raise cash, and how to manage hiring, among other things.

AskCity’s map tools are nifty — We’ve already mentioned the useful local map, direction, movie, restaurant and other features offered by AskCity. Here’s the latest: You can now circle places on a map, such as an intersection, and then search for say, that coffee shop that your friend told you about, but which you forgot the name of — because it lets returns in its results all of the coffee shops within the circle you drew.

Google’s bus system — Every Google employee gets a ride to work, with a WiFi-equipped bus so they can work while commuting. (See NYT story).

Paul Mercer, interface guru, hired by Palm — Mercer, a former Apple employee, who designed the interface of the nano-sized Samsung YP-Z5, has been hired by Palm, to help it regain momentum in the face of Apple’s iPhone launch.

Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires — The latest list is out, and Google’s showing is impressive. Co-founders Larry and Sergey are the two youngest on the long list of Californians.

Freebase reality check — Lot of excitement Friday about the launch of Freebase by Metaweb Technologies, billed by some to be the “synapses for the global brain,” but some people are yawning at the idea.

Even as global warming concerns grow, oil companies are getting more efficient at producing more oil — Which means more global warming. (See NYT story.)

Clearwire’s woes — Clearwire, the company that went public last week to raise more cash to build out its costly WiMax network, sees continued downward pressure. It went public at $25 last week. See graph at left, from this morning, where it dipped below $20 briefly. However, it rose at the end of the day.

FraudWall raises $1.01 million — We reported on the click-fraud company, Fraudwall, launched by Ron Conway and Jim Pitkow, in January. It has now raised $1.01 million of a $1.5 million planned first round, from Sherpalo Ventures and Baseline Ventures, according to PE Week. Sherpalo’s Ram Shriram is a new investor. Shriram, still on the Google board, is especially likely to have good insight into how important the click-fraud problem is for Google to solve.

Yet another photo/video site, Zannel, launches — Zannel is designed for mobile users. You can upload your camera-phone’s photos or video to Zannel’s web site, and you can send them to friends, through Zannel’s peer-to-peer network. The recipient gets an SMS (text message), opens it up and a link takes them to their WAP browser. We reported on its $6 million in funding here.