Mobikade, an ad-funded mobile social network run by Excite Japan and Global Network Solutions, has done a deal that puts its services on the websites of over 30 university student unions. It’s a tie-up with BAM, the student-centric marketing agency. By using the Mobikade WAP site on their handheld devices, students can accumulate Mobikade points that can be redeemed for free SMS messages that can then be sent from their union’s site. GNS, a partner in the Mobikade venture, reckons it can increase its user base this way at the same time as driving up traffic for union sites as the students go back to campus this month – but I think SMS works best when it’s an integrated, feature on the handset, where messages come cheap and easy, rather than spread across the web and mobile sites, where students are forced to carry out tasks in order to win the right to send messages. Mobikade launched in the UK in July, offering games as well as messaging.