Mobile social media and micromedia

I've been evangelizing the power of mobile technology for about six years now. From the early days of the original Palm Pilot and brutally slow early cell phone browsers the potential for making an impact is massive and is equally untapped. According to M:Metrics 55%+ of Americans now own a cell phone and that number is growing every day. On top of that, data access speeds are getting faster and phone functionality is becoming more robust.

Take these numbers from M:Metrics on consumption:

You can see that SMS (text messaging) is leading the way followed by photo messaging and content browsing. Given this information and looking at the types of MicroMedia that we're dealing with today, the potential uses of mobile for engagement is huge. MicroMedia is a term (coined?) created by Jermiah Owyang at Web Strategist. He saw the need for a missing term that really encompasses "micro-blogging" and "micro-messaging". You can read his definition at his post, here is my altered version leveraging his original:

Text, audio or video messages published to a trusted social community. Content is created and consumed using synchronized, mixed platforms including mobile, web-based and installed software applications, and often distributed using other social media tools.

The traditional web is comprised of high-bandwidth, large/wide format content. The problem is that it's not suitable for the small screen and the clunky (at best) data entry techniques on today's phone. What these new micromedia formats accomplish is creating value through quick, low-bandwidth, low-complexity content creation.

Here are some examples:

• Presence apps (Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Facebook): These presence applications allow for quick updates to be published using multiple platforms and distributed using the same platforms to a trusted network of peers.
  
• Social friend networks (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.): This is more robust, high-bandwidth content, but mobile hooks are still there including publishing from phones, uploading audio/video/photos.
  
• Photo/video networks (Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc.): Expanding on this point, more and more phones have photo/video cameras and are connected to the mobile network. Shooting a video or a photo and instantly uploading them to the web is a reality. The process is easy (send the file to a unique address) and near real-time.
  

All of this mobile, MicroMedia content adds value to the creator as well as the community of people that they're connected to. Social networks are great at serving as aggregators for small, frequent content much more so than traditional content management systems. For a couple examples, take a look at my Facebook profile and homepage and my Jaiku feed (which I just use to aggregate other MicroMedia into one centralized feed).

So, when you're looking at your social media endeavors, keep mobile in mind. Grab a phone and start playing with it. Take some photos and send them to friends. Take a video and send them too. Join Twitter and text message in some updates. Above all, keep an open mind, but don't let this pass you by.

Technorati Tags:
mobile marketing, strategy, marketing, video, photography, mobile devices, interactive marketing, user generated content, trends, social networks, mobile, Techno//Marketer, Matt Dickman

Comments

[Jon Burg]

Microblogging is great but how far do you see it going? Will mobile extensions of social networks or dedicated MoSoSo itself ever really arrive as a mainstream? Or is it destined to land in the hands of the few, the proud, the bloggers?

[Matt Dickman]

Jon -- Thank you for the comment! Welcome to the blog.

I think it depends on how long it takes to make it un-geeky. Right now, you're right, Twitter, et. al. are used by bloggers to talk about what interests us, but I can see that expanding pretty rapidly.

I think it'll take a company like Google or Yahoo to adopt it, integrate it into their services and explain it to people before it leaps into the mainstream. I totally see services like Twitter become co-branded with companies to offer real time, two way communication with customers combining SMS, web and installed apps to become more responsive. I think that as blogging/social media get mainstream traction it'll feed this flame more and more.

The biggest reason that it can succeed is people are already doing these things. People text votes to American Idol to vote. Twitter is the same thing just with a personal message. The barrier to entry is low as is the learning curve. I think people know how to use camera phones and I see more and more apps that enable photo and video to be uploaded more easily to social nets.

It'll be interesting to follow. For now there is a lot of hype, but I personally see the potential. Like I said I think it'll take the right situation/partner to implement it seamlessly. It may be so seamless that a company like Dell could use it for support and nobody sees the change, but their response times go down.

[Jon Burg]

Hey Matt, I totally see where you’re going and for the most part I’m in agreement with your analysis, but how does Twitter offer a better solution than a dedicated sms/text/voice chat client?

Twitter’s interface is for the most part public and strikingly similar to an AOL chatroom from the 1990s with a added mobile and widget elements. The chatroom has since evolved into forums and social networks. Outside of IRC and other pirated file-sharing channels, I’m not aware of any public chat rooms that are still in use on any scale.

What makes you think that Twitter and it’s ilk are here to stay?

-Jon

[Doug Meacham]

Matt, Another great post. The "phone" is rapidly becoming much more than that and the next generation of Personal Network Access Devices are going to obliterate the line between phone and browser (can you say "iPhone"). The dedicated mobile apps of today will probably not be needed in the near future. Of course, in the US, the phone companies will be the limiting factor for the time being.

[Matt Dickman]

Jon -- I am not sure if it does offer a better solution at this point in time. I think Twitter is in its infancy really and it will be adapted and expanded on over time.

I think we need to look beyond the name and the hype to the true nature of what this is. I think the key to this type of service is that it's made synchronous, multi-modal publishing a reality. It's allowed groups of people to share information through a trusted network. I think building on those keys is what needs to happen and we need to get over the name Twitter. There are already services that use the functionality and are re-brandable and I think smart companies are looking for ways to use it to add value and connect more personally with people.

[Matt Dickman]

Doug -- Thank you for that (have you opened the iPhone yet?). You're dead on with the carrier statement. Devices are already so much more advanced in Europe and Asia. Network speed is another issue that needs to be resolved soon as well, but we may see that covered with WiMax.

You're also right with the dedicated mobile apps. Once there is a real platform (like a full-functioning web browser) they'll fade away. I'm looking forward to seeing Flash come to phones in a real way.

[Tangerine Toad]

Matt: I think that people are going to be turning to their cell phones for internet access far more often than is realized: even with slow connections, it's a great way to access all the things the web is good for: phone numbers, directions, movie times, sports scores, weather etc- stuff you don't want to lug around a computer for.

Social Networking? Twitter? Not too sure. Like you said they'll have to evolve so that they serve a purpose beyond your age group and socioeconomic class. I know how to use Twitter, but really have no use for it and would consider it a bother if someone started Twittering me. But in the way that LinkedIn makes social networking okay for people who are beyond Facebook, due to the low level of engagement it requires, someone may find a way to make a Twitterlike object acceptable too.

Marketers will need to be very careful when using mobile technology. Do not cross the Your Brand Is Not My Friend™ line: my phone number - and hence my phone- is private- you risk coming off like a telemarketer. Sponsored content is an easy way to get in - IF it makes sense to the brand, e.g. Totes umbrellas sponsoring a local weather report.

Surprised that cell phone is only at 55% - thought it'd be higher- which just goes to show how much new technology is still in its infancy.

[Matt Dickman]

TT -- I agree with your point of more people turning to mobile for interacting with digital content. I've seen some interesting products coming out to make the cell phone the processing engine and then add things like a full keyboard and small projector. Lots of interesting developments.

You do touch on the absolute key to mobile marketing. It's EXTREMELY personal and marketers need to tread softly, think through every item, make sure people opt-in their opt-in, etc. Reaching my email is one thing, reaching my hip is another. I had an interesting run in that soured me in this post: http://tinyurl.com/2lnzy5

Normal people won't be able to differentiate an SMS message from an unwanted call. They'll be equally angry and really hurt their impression of the brand.

[Tangerine Toad]

>>Normal people won't be able to differentiate an SMS message from an unwanted call. They'll be equally angry and really hurt their impression of the bran>>

This is why I like you Matt ;)
Seriously, your ability to maintain perspective on how the average person perceives marketing messages (and various new 2.0 media) is a great strength and has really impressed me.

So much so, that I'm going to add you to my blog roll.

TT

[Matt Dickman]

TT -- Wow! Thank you for the blogroll, it really means a lot to me. I try to remain grounded with my head in the clouds (I am going to do a post on that).

I, likewise, appreciate your viewpoint on these topics. You're helping me to shape my thinking with each interaction. That's why I love this stuff!