casestudies

David Harper

Warner Launches Mobile Portal For The Veronicas – Mash-Up Of Branded Content With Social Media

Warner understands the future of reaching the youth audience. They get it. You see, the definition of Mass Media is changing from Media Made FOR an Audience – to – Media Made BY the Audience. This media is social in nature and the under 24 crowd are hungry for it. Take a look at The Veronicas’ Web Site and see for yourself. The site is divided between branded content pushed down by the label and social media created by the artists and their fans. Embracing social media is an opportunity to build deeper relationships with an audience with the additional benefit of engaging customers through lifestyle marketing efforts they respond to.

 

The Veronicas are a set of twins from Brisbane, Australia whose first song, 4Ever, will be forever drilled into your forever grateful brain by the eternal (gotcha!) generosity of every radio and television show in the modern world. In addition to the label’s standard issue tour date info, music video, and downloads the girls are utilizing a dazzling variety of social media tools and services to reach their audience. Street teams. Open-source forums. MySpace page. A TextAmerica photoblog. A Diary. There’s more. The world has changed in other ways. The overwhelming feeling of a fan’s enthusiasm was once commonly experienced only at in-person venues such as concert, record store and mall appearances. The emergence of music videos and online interaction expanded the scope to include the home and PC. Now, the time has come for entertainment brands and artists to deliver the connection every fan is striving for to virtually anywhere & anytime – via Direct-To-Consumer mobile services. These personalized, off-portal mobile applications fuel a fresh, increased connection to the fan base, driving loyalty and interest. The audience is moving from their TV screens – to their computer screens – to their mobile phone screen. So to distribute your message you need to move to where the audience is moving.

People from Japan to Korea to Europe to the United States are engaging content on mobile devices in record numbers – 70 million 18-to-34-year-olds in the US have cell phones. Mobile subscribers are demanding the content and connections they care about to be available everywhere, all the time, and without a lot of work. Research from mobile media firm Enpocket finds that 30% of respondents age 18-24 prefer their mobile phones over TV, newspapers, the Internet, radio and magazines.

A few weeks ago Warner called in Wireless Ink to help glue together branded content, ringtone partners, and audience generated social media into a single portal and make it available to fans on their mobile phone. “Any device”, they said. “Any carrier. No multiple versions of apps to distribute, download and install.” They simply wanted to push fans to a single address – as cleanly and neatly as possible. Wireless Ink provided Warner with a platform to publish content, a layer that connects a variety of social media, and a persistent mobile space to point live-venue and SMS marketing promotions. The whole process took approximately 15 minutes. Did I mention they needed it quick?

The Official Veronicas’ Mobile Site is now in soft launch. The girls start touring this month and as the fan base grows the mobile site will grow along with them. Wireless Ink is excited to be a part of it all…

…besides I can’t get 4Ever out of my head.

Peek into the secret life of the Veronicas at the Official Veronicas Mobile Site. Simply fire up your phone mobile browser and point it to: http://winksite.com/wbr1/veronicas

David Harper

Politics To Go: Winksite Mobile Case Studies

In a recent post titled “Politics to Go: How Mobile Technology Empowers Just-in-Time Politics” I mentioned my contribution to GWU’s “Politics to Go” handbook. I was asked at the time to prepare a few examples of how Winksite is being used by established and indie/grassroot organizations to reach a mobile audience. These brief case studies are provided below for those who may find them to be of interest.

Progressive U Mobile
According to some, the United States is in the midst of a culture war. The war is being waged on many fronts, but one thing is increasingly clear: this cannot be defined as a battle between the old and the young. The polarization created by the culture wars is evident on college campuses, and even among high school teenagers. Progressive U was founded to build a new generation of leaders and influencers. Progressive U provides a voice for progressive students and other problem solvers using mobile media channels, allowing people to study and discuss creative solutions to social problems, economic issues, and cultural conflict. In short, Progressive U Mobile is a new type of community for young people, providing them the tools to reach out to their communities to build further understanding and support.

Chechnya Mobilized
War rages on in Chechnya. Human rights violations and violence against civilians continue unabated. People affected have a story to tell, and they want the world to hear it. What they do not have is a computer, or meaningful access to one. Utilizing mobile phones as their printing press participants of Chechnya Mobilized bring the world the latest news, opinion and commentary direct from the Chechen war.

Creative Commons Mobile Library
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. The Creative Commons Mobile Library brings a series of those works to mobile phones. Recognizing that mobile technology will continue to impact the way the world accesses and uses content on phones, the goal of the CCM Library is to:

  • Provide a new generation of authors and artists with the tools they need to self-publish and distribute their works.
  • Revolutionize the way individuals and organizations publish and consume content over mobile networks.
  • Provide a new channel for distribution of texts that have been made available to the public for free.
  • Support the educational and recreational needs of a variety of mobile readers.
  • Contribute to the public library mission(s) of informational needs, literacy, lifelong learning, and recreational reading of the general public.
  • Create a richer, more productive learning environment for those without consistent access to a PC and wired Internet access.

Mobile Reporter
Mobile Reporter brings first hand information concerning the Crisis in Andizhan to your cell phone screen. The project was designed to fill the informational vacuum and make citizens in Uzbekistan as well as citizens of other countries throughout the world aware of what is happening in Andizhan. Mobile Reporter operates round the clock by its own staff correspondent from the streets of Andizhan.

Fuse Mobile
The overwhelming feeling of a fan’s enthusiasm was once commonly experienced only at concerts. The emergence of music videos and online interaction expanded the scope to include the home and PC. Fuse TV wanted to deliver this connection to fans anywhere & anytime. As such, Fuse Mobile was launched to fuel a deeper connection with their audience. The mobile space provided mechanisms for feedback, voting and Mobile Screen-To-TV Screen dedications. Fuse Mobile became a place where teenagers’ opinions and votes count. In addition, teenagers were able to stay in touch with not only their friends, but trends that make or break you at that age.

Slugger O’Toole Mobile
Slugger O’Toole is a news and research portal, looking at various strands of political aspects of life in Northern Ireland. It brings together and records news, commentary and diverse opinion. From time to time, Slugger O’Toole seeks to create substantial debate in given areas, like Unionism or Nationalism, or in more particular subject areas like the economy, cultural issues or the environment. Slugger O’Toole Mobile reaches an audience whose primary access to the Internet is though their mobile phone.

Dean for America Mobile Blog
Seizing the opportunity provided by the proliferation of mobile devices across campus’s nationwide a student built the Dean for America Mobile Blog as a vehicle to help spread support. The content for this unofficial Dean for America mobile site, which included Spanish language alternatives, was made available via RSS-To-Mobile Syndication. In addition, student volunteers had the ability to post comments in a forum and chat with each other from their mobile devices providing its users with a sense of community. These simple activities went a long way toward evoking the sense of active participation students would otherwise be missing while juggling work, studies and friends. In turn, using survey functionality the mobile site organizer was able to get a far better sense of what it was fellow students wanted and needed, and make better resource-allocation decisions in response.

BlogHer Mobile
BlogHer is a network for women bloggers to draw on for exposure, education, and community. The recent BlogHer 2005 Conference initiated the opportunity for greater visibility, learning and success for individual women bloggers and for the community of bloggers as a whole. For some information is both a tool and an end in itself. People crave the feeling of being plugged in. The BlogHer Mobile Site was launched so people could connect with the BlogHer community from their mobile devices, extending the BlogHer network and its pulse into the daily lives of women.

InstaPundit Mobile
Law Professor. Author. Correspondent. Musician. Techno-Libertarian. InstaJournalist. Glenn Reynolds the InstaPundit. Glenn’s blog is one of the most widely-read blogs in the world making him one of the most successful brokers of political commentary on the blogging scene. With an eye towards the intersection between advanced technologies and individual liberty, InstaPundit has gone mobile so to widen its audience. Not everyone uses computers to access information. Teens heavily rely on mobile devices to retrieve and share information. Internationally, phones are used just as much for information as communication. By publishing to a mobile site, InstaPundit Mobile broadens the scope of its audience, providing news and views the way a new generation prefers to see it.

David Harper

Creative Commons Licensed Library Launches – Delivering Mobile Editions Of Books To Phones

The Creative Commons Library is the first in a series of works to be published on the Winksite Mobile Publishing & Community Platform. Winksite extends the power of publishing and distributing mobile books to the masses. The tools used are offered FREE of charge to individuals and non-profit organizations for non-commercial use.

Over the coming months the number of collections will grow to include thousands of titles available under Creative Commons license, in the public domain, and from leading publishers.

Accessing The Creative Commons Library
The works published within the The Creative Commons Library are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any web-enabled mobile phone or PDA (no downloading or installation required). We welcome your comments.

Note: Point your phone’s mobile browser to the URLs above to access the mobile book you are interested in reading.Each chapter within the book is 2 clicks away from a site’s “Main Menu.” The chapters are automatically broken up into multiple screens so memory starved mobile browsers don’t gag on lengthy content. There are smart links generated from chapter to chapter and a mobile email form is included for forwarding chapters to yourself or a friend. Each book’s Creative Commons license information is included in the email.

Winkbooks Explained – The Power of the Distributed Word
Mobile books, or “Winkbooks” are texts designed to be read on a web-enabled mobile phone.

Mobile publishing is a concept still in its relative infancy – partly due to the technology barrier that needs to be overcome by many prospective users. The idea that paper and ink should be forsaken for mobile phones is enough to make readers give an almost Luddite shudder. How can any mobile device approach the ergonomics and durability of a good quality book or reading the text on a PC or notebook? Who will read a book on a phone? Replacement however, is not the point. It’s all about distribution.

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. For tens of millions their mobile phone is their one and only pipeline onto the Internet, to knowledge it contains, and to each other. Their entire “connected” world is what they can publish and consume directly on their phone. Let’s connect everyone to all the great content and thoughts bouncing around the Internet. Don’t leave anyone out or behind or without a voice.

By providing a greater number of people with knowledge, you provide an even greater number with the potential to become involved. As I see, it is more than just publishing content. It is about the individuals it engages, the people it connects, the dialogue that develops, the community that forms and the collective action that can result.

The Future Of Mobile Books On Phones
Technology will continue to impact the way the world accesses and uses content on phones. At the moment we are at the same stage as early television, where the first TV programs were picture radio shows. The question that remains to be answered is – What shape will future works and content take? Our thought is to provide a new generation of authors and artists with the tools they need to self-publish, step out of the way, watch, listen then respond with innovations.

How To Get Started
A Tutorial will be published over the next few weeks showing you step-by-step:

  1. How to publish and distribute your own CC-licensed book to mobile devices utilizing Winksite’s Mobile Publishing & Community Platform.
  2. How to add your work to a “shelf” in the Creative Commons Mobile Library.

Meanwhile, please contact us if you have a CC-licensed book and would like us to help you publish it . We would be happy to lend a hand.

Development Roadmap

  • Ability to bookmark your location within a text and be “dropped” right back where you left off when you return.
  • Ability to search the Winksite mobile catalog and select titles to personalize your own unique collection.
  • Generate custom RSS feeds (e.g. Subscribe to a book feed where a chapter a day is sent to your feed reader).
  • Ability to import photo, audio & video content.
  • Integration with Our Media to mobilize personal media.
  • Standards support will include but not be limited to WML v1.x, XML, XHTML, xHTML Mobile Profile(WML v2.0), i-mode compatible HTML (cHTML), CSS2 and CSS3, OEBPS 1.2, and related specifications.

The Audience

  • According to the EMC subscriber numbers passed the 1.5 billion mark in the first week of June 2004. That’s roughly equivalent to one-fourth of the entire world population.
  • Globally, more people access the Internet via a mobile device than a tethered PC.
  • Mobile phones are the largest-selling consumer device in the world with annual sales exceeding the sales of PCs, TVs and DVD players combined.
  • NTT DoCoMo reports in September 2004 that about two-thirds of the Japanese population experiences the Internet solely through their mobile phones.
  • A report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in May 2004, showed that Africa was the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market, with use of handsets increasing at an annual rate of 65%.
  • According to Ministry of Information and Industry statistics, mobile phone subscribers in China increased by 40.3 million to 310 million as of the end of July 2004 out numbering land line users.
  • Indian mobile phone users grew to 44.9 million last month outnumbering fixed-line customers for the first time, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
  • There are 171.2 mln wireless subscribers in the United States, according to an industry trade group, CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Goals

  • Revolutionize the way individuals and organizations publish and consume content over mobile networks.
  • Provide a new channel for distribution of texts that have been made available to the public for free.
  • Support the educational and recreational needs of a variety of mobile readers.
  • Contribute to the public library mission(s) of informational needs, literacy, lifelong learning, and recreational reading of the general public.
  • Create a richer, more productive learning environment for those without consistent access to a PC and wired Internet access.
  • Help get content onto subscriber’s phones and so grow the author’s audience.

Criteria for Inclusion in Winkbooks

  • Works must be in the public domain, published under Creative Commons License, or must be provided by publishers for free distribution to the public.
  • In determining accuracy and authority, electronic texts converted under the auspices of an educational institution are most highly considered.
  • When considering electronic texts, the existing format and organization must not present any significant obstacles for conversion.

Mobile Browser Support
Winkbooks can be viewed on any web-enabled mobile phone or PDA running a WML v1.x, xHTML Mobile Profile(WML v2.0) or i-mode compatible HTML (cHTML) browser. Browsers currently supported include:

  • Openwave Mobile Browser (v4.0 and up)
  • Nokia WAP Browser
  • Blazer (v2.x and up for Palm OS)
  • BlackBerry Browser
  • NetFront (v3.x)
  • Compact NetFront Plus
  • Opera (Symbian OS)
  • Wapaka (Pocket PC, Palm OS, Symbian OS, hiptop/Sidekick, QNX)
  • Pocket Internet Explorer (Microsoft PocketPC Phone Edition, Microsoft Smartphone 2002)
  • AvantGo (Limited support – Pocket PC, Palm OS, Symbian OS)
  • J-PHONE/3.0

About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. They have built upon the “all rights reserved” of traditional copyright to create a voluntary “some rights reserved” copyright. Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation.Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society. For information, visit: http://creativecommons.org/

About Wireless Ink
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – based Wireless Ink, founded in 2001, provides mobile publishing solutions. Wireless Ink’s award-winning, community, Winksite has been created to change the face of the mobile Internet — making it easier for, and more accessible to, the masses. For information, visit: http://winksite.com

Found This Post Interesting?
Read more about Winksite and mobile access to content at the following links:

Thanks to the A.S.Kline Network for some of the concepts used in the second paragraph of “Winkbooks Explained”.