Social network software (SNS) has emerged as a popular and increasingly mainstream area that operators have extensively researched and are beginning to enter. In China, there are over 100 million QQ zone users, and in the U.S. 80% of university students use Facebook. Unsurprisingly, operators are keen to show off their advantages in this burgeoning field.

China' s big three set foot in the arena

In September 2008, China Mobile launched its own online SNS, the 139 Community. Immediately after China' s National Day, a new link www.u-powerbook.com was found in China Unicom' s "U-Power" brand website that target teenagers. After four months of trials in Liaoning Province, it has already attracted 200,000 China Unicom subscribers. Moreover, China Telecom' s plan to deploy its own SNS platform is underway following its successful CDMA network acquisition.

Strategic SNS

The enormous number of SNS users offers huge potential profits for operators if they are able to provide a rich variety of VASs. Nevertheless, it is impossible for them to do so by simply expanding existing telecom services, which poses a challenge for their transformation.

The last decade has seen the telecom industry explore two measures, yet the terrain of both has been tough. The first sought to exploit network resources, given that operators boast huge network and telecom service resources. However, these resources are open to application providers; SMS, for example, stimulates cooperation between application providers and operators through ISPs. The gap between network resources and applications means that the former has a limited impact on the latter, restricting the advantages operators can obtain from network resources.

The second measure involved the value stimulated by capitalizing on their wide user base. Operators partnered with providers to offer various applications, and allow subscribers access to the applications. However, due to high customer service costs and marketing constraints in the niche markets, this strategy offers operators a slim chance of success.

Pinned down by these disadvantages, operators have been looking for a third measure. To this end, people' s appetite for social networking may have positioned SNS as a smoother, wider road which they have been searching for. Operators can set up an SNS platform easily and, with a guaranteed user base in tow, readily deploy various applications on the SNS platform. Moreover, telecom operators can make use of users' real social networks. Four months after the launch of an open platform, for example, Facebook had attracted more than 4,500 third-party applications. A social networking website can not only deliver this type of success for a given operator, but also deepen and broaden its range of services and applications. Operators can thus occupy a strategic position from which to effectively develop and leverage the unique value of future Internet applications.

Contending for SNS' s strengths

Social networking is a natural extension of telecom services. However, an SNS cannot be built by simply improving existing telecom services, and this has led some operators to partner with online social platforms to tap the SNS goldmine. Orange has already signed a deal with Facebook, and MySpace is cooperating with Bebo. However, in these collaborations, the Internet SNS provider owns the social network, while operators offer network access only.

Given this, it is more logical for operators to develop their own SNS.

User resources

In addition to profile space and shared applications, the SNS offers a core feature named friends' list. This gives operators a natural advantage; in a recent review with Communications Weekly, 3G.cn' s President, Zhang Xiangdong, stated that SNS websites need real user information, and this can easily be found in the user resources that operators have accumulated over many years.

People have far more contacts in their mobile phone directory than on their social network page. When a user logs on to an operator' s SNS website, the operator can utilize the user' s Call Record to recommend friends that the user can then confirm and add. So the SNS uses the user' s social network to promote new telecom service applications. Friends' recommendations are invariably effective, and the SNS can greatly reduce recommendation costs. Through acquisitions, Comcast in the U.S. and Vodafone U.K. are providing users with a shared directory service.

Service resources

When deploying their own SNS, operators need to base their services on enriching communication between real-life friends. As the Internet becomes prevalent in people' s lives, operators can expect an organic and steady growth in business, and integrate a variety of services with the SNS to attract users. These can include Web bill queries, familiarity number services (FNS), call filtering, caller name presentation (CNAP), SMS signatures, and CRBT. For example, a Web bill query can be integrated into SNS to allow a user to see the names of friends matched with their telephone numbers. This type of feature helps personalize user experience and enhance customer loyalty.

Integrated services have added distinctive value to SNS. By personalizing content and services, telecom operators can rapidly expand their subscriber base. At present, existing social networking websites attract users by special service provisions such as dating, making friends, job search, and business-specific information. Most users, however, have little interest in these services.

During the early stages of operating a social networking website, operators can promote their SNSs through a self-service websites. In the near future, social networking websites can develop and be enriched by user generated content (UGC); users attract others, which will increase user numbers without the need for expensive marketing campaigns.

The technological role

A social networking website is not only a popular online application, but also an application platform for which robust technologies are not only relevant, but a precursor for success. To date, extensive research has been conducted on social networking website platforms, among which Facebook and OpenSocial are the most influential. Oriented mainly to ordinary Internet SPs, however, the two platforms cannot fully satisfy operators' requirements. To bridge this gap, Huawei has developed several technologies to help operators construct their social networking websites.

Simple and open interface for applications

A core function of the SNS is to attract mass Internet applications through simple and open interfaces. Online SNS demands that applications must be aligned to the SNS' s platform architecture. For example, Facebook applications must be composed in Facebook Markup Language (FBML), and OpenSocial applications must run on a Gadget container. In this case, application architecture has to be significantly modified, which will result in poor usability. Technically, application providers do not need to modify architecture, and can simply introduce the platform SNS function through 'injection programming' . As most applications require only a simple SNS function that enables each user to recommend or comment on content or view records of friend visits, the hyper-link and HTML component can be embedded. For complex functions such as implementing authority control via SNS friend information, a small number of codes can be inserted to activate the Interface exposed by the SNS platform. Applications are minimally modified, and programming is relatively simple.

Powerful relationship management

Relationships in the SNS refer to inter-user connections, between friends' lists and groups. Relationship management is a core SNS function and is vital for QoS and user QoE. Existing online SNS platforms fail to offer strong relationship management, which weakens their functions. For instance, the group function of both Facebook and OpenSocial has not been upgraded to platform capability, and users remain unable to conveniently link users in the same group. The SNS has to constantly strengthen this core to connect users with more friends via a high address integration mechanism that protects user privacy, avoids unwelcome disturbance, and quickly develops the user' s SNS function. While deploying the SNS, operators must enhance relationship management while fully utilizing the social relationships between existing users.

Differentiated user security control

Existing online social networking platforms are an entertainment platform and lack sufficient security. Applications installed on Facebook and OpenSocial can read all of a user' s information, including friends, which may later be acquired by the application providers. The operator' s SNS caters for real-life friends and thus requires differentiated authority control.

Interconnection and interoperability

This technology enables mutual communications among all SNS communities so they can make friends with each other. Online social websites currently operate on a global scale and each community network accepts registrations from all over the world. Therefore, these websites need not be interconnected and interoperable.

However, operators managing their networks in specific regions must support interconnection and interoperability in order to enable cross-regional communications and collaborations for their subscribers. The SNS solution provides such interconnection and interoperability abilities to help operators enhance user QoE and improve competitiveness.

So far there have been some mature basic standards that support interconnection and interoperability, e.g., the security assertion markup language (SAML).