— Buongiorno is better known as a content provider. How does content fit with social networking and what sort of business model do you see behind it? Thornley sees social networking and content as the “two key needs” of any successful mobile social net, with the former providing the “connection” and the latter providing “diversion.” Content could be editorial news, interactive quizzes, user generated content or branded premium content. “It provides a reason to come back frequently,” says Thornley.

It also, hopefully, gives Buongiorno a way to make money. Blinko will offer various content channels that will be integrated into its wider social networking environment, or vertical communities built around users’ interests. “Imagine a channel focused on your favorite musician – it would be a place where users can interact with others who share the same passion, get the latest news, watch videos, stream and download music, play quizzes, and even join in with live chats,” says Thornley. Once premium packages of content are added, brands can use the social network to communicate with fans and “generate value.” Thornley adds, “By having varied content that’s relevant to the platform, we can create defined vertical communities and monetize these communities.”

— It’s a crowded sector, even with the mobile-only networks such as itsmy.com and mocospace.com. How else will you compete? “It’s a huge challenge for our marketing department,” acknowledged Thornley, but he believes its content partnerships have paved a bit of the way for its social nets. Buongiorno, he notes, has had a “fantastic relationship,” with handset manufacturers; its content comes pre-loaded on some Nokia (NYSE: NOK) devices. Their content is also available through a number of operator services. Plus, if it’s about scale, Buongiono already does business in 53 countries, with offices in 34 of them.

But yes, “it’s going to be hard to get ourselves heard” over the considerable “noise” in the sector,” said Thornley, and yes, it’s an entirely new game. As Thornley notes, in the past with Buongiorno’s content business, it was a simple case of using the money made from content, and plowing it back into acquiring more customers. In the age of social nets, luring customers is just half the challenge, getting them to pay is one that not even the web-based nets have figured out. Still, Thornley is hopeful. “There is a history at least of users paying for content on mobile. We’ve got the pedigree for monetizing content.”