NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Oct 26, 2012) - Mobile advertising has become a key focus for the Social Media Industry as companies look to monetize the value of their large user base. Worldwide the total number of smartphones in use in the third quarter was 1.03 billion, a 47 percent increase from third quarter 2011. By 2015, that number is predicted to double to 2 billion units. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Social Media Industry and provides equity research on LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: [ LNKD ]) and Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: [ GRPN ]).

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The rapidly growing popularity of smartphones worldwide has made mobile ads a viable option for advertisers. Research firm eMarketer estimates that spending on mobile advertising in the U.S. will reach $2.61 billion in 2012, before soaring to nearly $12 billion in 2016. In 2012, eMarketer estimates that the average amount of time U.S. consumers spend on their mobile devices -- talk-time not included -- will rise 51.9 percent to 82 minutes per day, a sharp increase from an average of just 34 minutes in 2010.

"It grew from an almost insignificant category to a now meaningful category in under two years," said David Silverman, a partner at PwC.

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LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the Internet, with over 175 million members. The company recently announced that LinkedIn 2.0 is now available for BlackBerry OS 6 and above through BlackBerry App World. The company has now begun to allow advertisers to use video ads on their platform LinkedIn Ads.

Groupon works with selected business partners to create a win-win proposition for business and consumers, delivering more than 1,000 daily deals globally. The company recently announced the availability of their point-of-sale system Breadcrumb, which they acquired earlier this year. Breadcrumb, which is fully integrated with GrouponPayments, offers a low cost option for merchants and small businesses accepting credit cards.

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