Emerging Power of social networking and its Impact on Telecom Strategy

A post on "Linked in" as a reposnse to the following question....
http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=81113&discussionID=32245&commentID=135617&trk=discq_mor&goback=%2Eanh_81113#commentID_135617

What are you thoughts on the emerging power of social networking and it's impact on telecom strategy?
How do vendors leverage social networks to reach business customers? Where do managed services fit in? Are social networking mediums a viable marketing platform for telcos?

I am fresh from reading Andy rubin's vision for Mobiles and communication. social networking is emerging as the MEGA TREND! The future of all Telecom companies is in getting Consumers to be actively living the product and the services. While consumers consume, their patterns of consumption shape the products of tomorrow and all telecom companies are tying to tap into this understanding thru various means. Enabling Social networking and learning from it is one! To cite examples from my work, i have at different stages in my work tried different methods to tap into the Orkuts and Facebooks of the world. To get them experience the product or service, convert them into active users and finally hoping that some of them become evangelists of my cause. The Challenge as i would put it today is NOT TO SEEK CONSUMERS, THEY ARE ALREADY LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION. Therefore the task is to ENGAGE THEM CONTINUOUSLY AND KEEP LEARNING FROM THEM. The other challenge that marketers are facing is "WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS MODELS AND MONETIZATION STRUCTURES DO THEY CREATE ON A SUSTAINABLE BASIS". To answer the other questions: Social networks are very well split by nature. Knowing where to look for your consumers and communicating with them thru Blogs,Clubs,Webinars, free trails, sharing the architecture is where the task lies. take an instnce of Google Chrome. With some smart PR and Free downloads, they upstaged some older players in terms of market shares. The pictorial representation of how Chrome architecture is based was one genius. Services are not a external thing that has to fit in. It is intrinsic to the nature of consumers. As i said earlier Adoption rates are no challenge, stickiness is! Building continuous excitement and Monetizing it is what we are cahllenged with. Social networking tools are not just viable, they are next to zero cost platforms for Telco's. Once you get your solution right and comunicate it well, the viral takes care of it...