Last week on Pro, social networks, mobile and a guide to cloud adoption

This weekly post took a brief winter break, but now we’re back – and what a week. On Tuesday, Facebook announced its new Graph Search product, and on Wednesday released free calls for iPhone users through the Facebook Messenger app. Over on GigaOM Pro, our analysts look past the latest news coming from team Zuckerberg, presenting quantitative data on the social network landscape at large, a recap of the biggest trends and disruptors in mobile, and more.

Note: GigaOM Pro is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit pro.gigaom.com to learn more about it.

Cloud: How direct-access solutions can speed up cloud adoption
Larry Carvalho

As more and more companies – startups and enterprise corporations alike – adopt cloud computing, these solutions raise an increasing number of logistical questions. Analyst Larry Carvalho provides a primer for companies interested in going the cloud route, focusing on challenges and concerns around network, cost, and security. Carvalho provides a brief overview of the cloud market as well as guidance for both enterprise and startup clients.

Mobile: Mobile fourth-quarter 2012 analysis
Colin Gibbs

Mobile had a tumultuous year, with highly-anticipated releases from Apple, Microsoft and Nokia (among others). Analyst Colin Gibbs looks at the biggest news, trends, and technologies to emerge during the last quarter of 2012. While the Windows 8 Phone continued to struggle, the iPhone and Android both enjoyed continued growth; mobile shopping, mobile maps, and photo-sharing apps all had a tumultuous quarter as well, with Apple’s Maps and Instagram’s TOS snafu leading the fray.

Social: Social networkers survey: how to compete with Facebook in 2013
Mark Mulligan

It’s no surprise that Facebook dominates the social network market, with 94% of all US social networkers using it, and over 1 billion users worldwide. Analyst Mark Mulligan looks at the other players out there – a so-called “second tier” of general and specialist social networks, led by Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. Mulligan analyzes the results from GigaOM Pro’s recent consumer survey to look at user behavior and online activity to determine where Facebook is going next, and what these specialist networks must do in order to gain an advantage over their peers.