Critical Path Survey Finds 78% of Consumers Want More from Their Social Network Experience.

Critical Path Throws a 'Digital Lifeline' to Connected Consumers with Social Address Book

LONDON -- European research results announced today by Critical Path, a leading provider of messaging applications, reveals a startling gap between what consumers want from their interaction with social networks and the services available today.

The average consumer has four separate address books across a number of services, including mobile phones and social networks such as Facebook[R]. The majority of people (68%) fail to update their address books with contact changes and 91% are frustrated with their out-of-date contact information.

Of the 3,000 consumers surveyed:

* 75% found the task of updating their contacts across their social networks frustrating 

* 82% wanted a solution to synchronise their separate address books

* 78% are looking for a simple, easy-to-use solution

Clear preferences for services were identified - a large majority wanted automatic updates from their friends using social networks and also wanted control over the type of updates they receive.

This research demonstrates the growing relevance of social networks and the importance consumers place on their online interactions. Operators have a clear opportunity to provide solutions to address these consumer frustrations and heighten their role and value in mobile social networking.

Critical Path has introduced Social Address Book, a connected, dynamic and consolidated address book experience for operators to offer their customers. Operators can now offer their customers an easy to use, high value service that enhances their access to Facebook, Twitter[R], MSN[R], and other popular sites.

"Critical Path's Social Address Book solution helps give consumers the online and mobile experience they are looking for," says Mark Palomba, CEO Critical Path. "It propels operators into a much stronger competitive position and enables them to open new revenue streams. Operators can enrich access to the most explosive phenomenon in this decade - social networks. Our Social Address Book solution solves many consumer headaches. It's a digital lifeline that quickly and easily keeps consumers in touch with their social networks to share information and stay up to date with the people that matter to them."

About the research

The research was carried out online by Vanson Bourne during August, 2009 amongst a nationally representative sample of 3,000 European consumers aged 16+. The consumers were from six European countries: UK, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden.

About Critical Path, Inc.

Critical Path's Memova[R] suite of applications and services are chosen by leading service providers and enterprises around the world to enable millions of people to communicate, connect, share and organize while providing industry-leading safety and assurance.

With offices around the globe, Critical Path supports companies with their deployments of Memova solutions to drive revenue, boost loyalty, streamline operations and reduce costs. More information is available at www.criticalpath.net.

Note to Editors: Critical Path, the Critical Path logo, Messages that Matter, The World is Mobile, AppLink, Memova and the Memova logo are the trademarks of Critical Path, Inc., registered in various jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.