Back in early 2007 Facebook was all the craze. Hours were spent on writing blog posts on its target demographics, its growth forecasts, how it impacts communications, business and branding. Marketers spent days at conferences educating on the new wave of customer relations, the changing face of the media and the demise of non digital die-hards.

Sadly, not much has changed. The Facebook mayhem was substituted by Twitter. The hype, the same, if not worse. Twitter is three years old and get-rich-quick e-books are abound. People now sell themselves to businesses as Twitter experts (Seriously). Tech crazy TechCrunch is smitten by it and Twitter even graced the front page of Time Magazine (Seriously).

People all over the world are dancing at its feet. No…wait a minute…that’s a lie. For all the online craziness the Twitter population is anything but mainstream. Hard to believe, yet most, yes most people I know, either have no inkling of what Twitter is, or worse, have absolutely no desire to dabble in it. And just when the Twitterati think they have digested enough bad news for a day, damning evidence proves that it’s hardly a retaining concept too.

Still, the Jehovah’s witnesses of the industry are sticking it to their employers. Those that weren’t (aren’t) retrenched because of the glooming recession, is suddenly relinquishing security for the cool tag of “internet consultant”. Twitter Bible under the arm they go around the neighbourhood with their coffee stained teeth convincing people of the ‘second coming’.

Please… more like the ‘second bubble’ really.

Luckily we have a saving grace. And it’s largely due to the iPhone. The mobile phone has created an entry point to social networks without the need for fixed internet lines. The iPhone secured the media sensation. The application developers took note and ran with it. Today, Research in Motion’s (RIM), the iPhone, Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile is reviving an application market that once existed…deep in the shadows of a poorly developed Windows Mobile platform.

Where disconnected users previously had no means to enjoy social networking, connecting via their mobile phones are now second nature. And that’s crucial. While the mobile social networking market is only starting to shed its nappies, we are already seeing niche social networks sprouting up all over the place. And while these new networks aren’t necessarily a direct result of mobile connectivity, mobile does hold the key in terms of commercialization.

Users are willing to pay for applications. Shocking. And applications are the next best thing since, well…social networks (Even if only according to my humble opinion). Users are willing to purchase products, services and content via their mobile phones. Shocking, isn’t it?

Don’t hold your breath just yet…because it has also been documented that users engage with…wait for it… mobile advertising. It seems everything touted as the next big thing on the internet, but failing miserably, is now being achieved with the mobile phone.

Despite Microsoft’s Chief Executive, Steve Ballmer’s misconception, the best is yet to come. Grab a seat…literally, and hold on to it.