David Harper’s Different Things

“When I finally break down and get a modern cellphone, here's one reason: content” - Clock — watching time, the only true currency, A journal from John Roberts.
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The killer app for mobile after voice and email is content.

This will not be content pushed down to the masses from established media & news organizations or entertainment companies. Rather the content will be user-generated, published from the ground up (Nanopublishing?).

User created content is an integral part of many of the tethered commercial sites like Amazon.com (user reviews), eBay, Google (Blogger & Ad Sense program), Yahoo and AOL. This shift is also being recognized within enterprise as exampled by the direction knowledge management applications are moving. All this raises the question: “Will user created content - content made by one user and consumed by many others - become as pervasive on the mobile Internet as it is on the wired Internet?”(1)

The strongest pent up demand exists in the youth segment. Younger subscribers comprise the most attractive target demographic for user-generated content. Subscribers aged 18 to 25 are over twice as likely to use handsets for services other than voice communications. This same audience is responsible for the huge success SMS, IM, ringtones and mobile gaming has experienced. “Carriers, it will be remembered, had little faith in SMS until teens seized upon the service, reinvented it and made it an indispensable part of their mobile lifestyle.”(1)

No leader has emerged to define the mobile p2p/community market. The sector will evolve from the activities of branded and white label application service providers such as Wireless Ink that currently provides a focused mobile publishing & community platform (WINKsite - http://winksite.com).

Wireless Ink's belief is that the availability of simple and flexible tools for the publishing, personalization and distribution of user-generated content is essential to mobile adoption. Furthermore, mobile community services are a great way of building and discovering that content. “It is a maxim of the social sciences that people are more committed to something to which they have invested their efforts.”(1) Enabling people to post content, vote or contribute to a mobile site increases the likelihood that they will return - it's good business.

The monetization of those mobile communities are the logical next step (e.g. affiliate marketing, advertising, syndication, selling of personalized information & premium services, person-to-person payments, mobile selling, mobile auctions etc.) Critical to the success of these programs will be the safeguarding of an individual's privacy and personal data.

While the content-community-commerce model is not a new one it nonetheless remains a potentially disruptive one in regards to the mobile space — changing the status quo.

Note: More in future posts as to how content owners and carriers are invited to the party.

References/Discussions:

• http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=15688 (1)
• http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/nanopublishing/
• http://www.wordspy.com/words/nanopublishing.asp
• http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008146.html
• http://doien.blogspot.com/2004/09/user-generated-content-mp3com-data.html
• http://www.yelvington.com/item.php?id=138
• http://calacanis.weblogsinc.com/entry/7943728849548149/
• http://marc.blogs.it/archives/2004/10/transparency_an.html
• http://battellemedia.com/archives/000978.php
• http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000476.html

http://www.zelosgroup.com/sr/265-1.asp –>

From my perspective “moblogging” - however the word has been defined so far - fails.

Adam Greenfield, of v-2.org wasn't off the mark when he wrote, “You ask for my definition of moblogging. Here it is: whatever the people doing it say it is.” (More of Adam's thoughts here.)

You see, when the discussion began the activity of “moblogging” was thought of as simply pushing text and photos one way from a “remote” location or mobile device to a website or blog (IMHO). That content would then be available for desktop access.

Well, two years later moblogging as a label to a plethoria of mobile publishing activity fails to describe the behaviour of many of it's participants. And as such, does a great injustice to all the emergent activity going on - much of which is apparently under the radar.

You see, there is a revolution going on all over the world. People from Japan to India to Europe to the United States and South America are engaging content on mobile devices in record numbers - in fact mobile access to the Internet has already surpassed desktop access. Also rising are expectations as to how you should be able to share content and communicate with the people around you via mobile phone.

Yes, I said mobile phone not “mobile device.” Simple, affordable web-enabled mobile phones. I'm talking the masses here folks. For tens of millions worldwide (more then all us “bloggers” combined) mobile access to publishing, communication and collaboration tools are their one and only pipeline onto the Internet and to each other. The majority of them don't know the luxury of using their mobile device as a “handy” way to publish to their desktop blog. They don't have a desktop.

“Moblogging” as currently defined doesn't account for this. maybe it doesn't have to. But, by focusing on only one aspect of mobile publishing, we lose sight of greater opportunities - providing a greater number of people with a voice, and an even greater number with the ability to become involved. “Blogging” (not moblogging) as I see it is more than just publishing content, it is also the dialogue around the posts (like this discussion), the community it develops and the action that can result. Should not the definition of “moblogging” be expanded to account for those activities from alternative locations and mobile devices as well?

To underscore my point, RSS & Syndication is now is being used to bring content to the mobile phones of people who have until now had zero or little access to a desktop computer - combined with mobile forums, chat etc.- the technology shortchanged are able to engage in mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-PC communities.

Content + People + Mobile Phones = Mobile Communities = A need for a broader definition of “moblogging”

And why not?