Have You Got an App for That?

It seems that app development is where it's at in social. According to a recent eMarketer article, mobile apps for social networks - in addition to phones - are under consideration by more marketers than ever before. As you can see in the graphic below, the leading platform for an app (unsurprisingly) was Facebook, followed by the iPhone.

Fewer than half invested in mobile or social apps last year, but most plan to create one this year. Lest you think that this is simply marketers chasing the latest shiny object, or the boss claiming G.M.O.O.T. ("get me one of those!"), there's some solid reasoning behind the choice to move more resources to mobile.

The strategy: create more opportunity for engagement with customers. On social networks, we'll see a greater opportunity for reach, targeting and sharing, but with mobile there's more creative control and the ability to have a message stick with the recipient longer.

And let's face it: we are increasingly moving to a mobile society. As smartphones - the iPhone, Android, Nexus One and others - become more affordable and widely available, we'll see an explosion in mobile access of the web. And with that, customers will require more custom interaction with the sites and brands they're passionate about - in many cases having news and product information come to them directly.

Enter the app. Or, more appropriately, the hundreds of thousands of additional apps we're about to see.