By Brigette Flood

Small things carry big news. And I’m not talking 140 characters small. I’m talking delightfully small … as in screens, as in what Neilsen predicts 1 in 2 US residents will have adopted by the end of 2011: smartphones. They, along with iPads, tablets and other mobile devices, represent a big piece of the future social mediasphere. Would all the astonishing statistics for social networking sites have been possible without their mobile counterparts? Highly unlikely.

Whether you’re vying for Mayorship of Turner Field via Foursquare, grabbing 50 percent off dinner at Top Flr thanks to Scoutmob, or checking flights via Delta’s app, the smartphone format harnesses powerful potential that we users often take for granted. Don’t unlock a badge of infinite boredom. Get excited. All the social, discount, geo-location, news and gaming goodness is bound to bring something interesting into your pocket or pocketbook.

Or it could come in little bigger format. While smartphones represent the largest market size, the mobile market is growing rapidly in size and proportion, a la iPads and tablets … any of those cool, techy things that combine social networking, angry birding, picture snapping and web browsing with portability. Current negative: nothing small about the hefty upfront investment.

Mobile will be an exciting place to watch over the next year, especially if Google’s Android operating system continues to grow in market share (it just surpassed Apple’s iPhone, taking over second place behind RIM’s Blackberry) and its app library (increasing daily. Around 100K to iPhone’s 350K, at last count).  But no matter what your de-vice (pun intended), brand and social media experts see the “small market” growing in importance. Stay tuned to see if they’re right.

Speaking of experts, local social, mobile and digital gurus VertMob (Kevin, Michael and Matt) and I recently talked about what they see on the horizon in the social and mobile scene. Read the full interview at makingsenseofsocial.com. You can also see what they’re up to at vertmob.com. Follow them @vertmob. Follow me @brigflood.