Facebook has sought to assert its grip on the mobile internet by announcing a platform for operators that will make it easier for people to access the networking site on their phones. Mobile users will now be able to install a specific Facebook application on their phones which will let them receive newsfeeds, messages, status updates, ‘pokes’ and other features from the site. The social networking site, which now has 8.9 million users in the UK, has partnered with Vodafone to release the service, but it is expected that similar deals with other operators will be announced soon. Facebook already has a mobile website which people can access on their phones, but it often means going first to a web browser and typing in the address. The new offering from Vodafone will mean people can click directly on an icon in the phone menu, called a widget. Operators will also be able to integrate more effectively with Facebook’s site, meaning that users can get more regular updates - like with ‘push e-mail’ - rather than having to always to log in. Vodafone subscribers will be able to access the site as part of a £7.50 ‘mobile internet bundle’ which gives them 120Mb of data a month. Vodafone is the first operator to use the Facebook for Mobile Operators platform and has started services in the U.K. and Germany, said Jed Stremel, Facebook’s director of mobile division. Vodafone will soon expand the program to Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal. At the moment the mobile site does not have any advertising. The long-term hope for social networking sites is rich online advertising revenue. Facebook, which has an exclusive deal with Microsoft to place ads on the site, also did not say when it would put advertising on the mobile site.. The mobile platform also includes other specifications which are designed to stop abuse of Facebook such as spamming. For example when users send MMS with a photo to their profile, the user is sent back a confirmation message with a code or link. The confirmation than links the person’s phone with his Facebook account.