Is Mobile a Medium?
As I got on the plane heading to the iMedia Breakthrough Summit, I was greeted by none other The David Berkowitz himself! Of course the first thing I did when I got to my seat was Tweet about it (what else would I do?).
The night’s dinner was sponsored by my friends over at Jumptap (sorry you could not make it, Julie) and after the formal presentation was given, Paran Johar graced the stage and proposed a “mobile economic bailout plan” (aka a sweepstakes, where the winner gets an entire mobile campaign. Not a bad idea!)
At the risk of being overly pedantic, and potentially forcing people to mince words in my presence, I want to underscore something that Paran said as he was presenting. He referred to mobile as a medium. Now, I don’t know what Paran’s philosophical views are on mobility, but this phrase struck me as something juicy that I could explore. Let’s first define out terms.
Medium
- an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished: Words are a medium of expression.
- one of the means or channels of general communication, information, or entertainment in society, as newspapers, radio, or television
It would be silly for me to add a definition of mobile; as I think we all know what I am referring to (in common parlance). The question remains,
Is the mobile phone a medium unto itself, and will it be treated as such in the marketing world in 5 five years?
I recognize the need for specialists in the mobile world today, and I love that iMedia is taking an entire day to focus on “mobile” (I would not have agreed to sit on the advisory board if I did not think this was a great initiative). Anyone who knows me, knows what my answers are to the following questions. I am not going to give my opinions at this time, rather I am looking to everyone at the iMedia summit to jump in and help out. Of course, I expect all the AMediaCirc.us/iMedia readers to jump in as well!
- What is the mobile web?
- Are there clear lines between the mobile web and what we commonly refer to as the web, necessitating dedicated, mobile web marketing teams?
- Where does the laptop fit into the mix, it is mobile?
- Along these lines, where does the netbook fit in (this is for my hardcore geeks)?
Help me turn this post into something of value by giving your answers and generating convesation. If you are not with us at the iMedia Summit and have some additional questions, please enter them in the comments. I will try to bring them up.
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Tags: Business and Economy, david berkowitz, Laptop, mobile, mobile marketing, Mobile Marketing Strategy, Mobile phone, Newspaper, Telecommunications, Television
Mar 30, 2009
You can think about mobile and the web as paper and text. The text may be a medium, or perhaps a ‘meta-medium’, but its the end technology that, when talking about the effects of a medium, we tend to focus on (for good or bad).
So to answer the three points:
1. The mobile web is going t obe the set of content created that orients itself towards mobile. These will not be sepperate from the world wide web, it will simply be content targeted differently. And there will likely be bleed over between the two. Think Twitter, a very ‘mobile’ tech, but which is used on desktops as well.
2. For many yes, but I am sure that talented marketers could do both just fine. While the two will likely be using the same network, and have a lot of bleed over, the technologies use is going to be focused differently, and marketers need to plan on targeting certain aspects of their web activities to mobile specific applications. For instance, a restaurant website will want to get its location into Google Maps and connect that to their websites menu.
3.No. Laptops are portable, not mobile. You sit down to use them, and the activities you do are less dependent on minimal info.
3.1. Netbooks are just ultraportable, not mobile. You dont walk down the street, pull our your netbook, go a google maps search for “roast beef”, and note that you have to go two blocks down and three over to find the nearest roast beef sandwich. Similarly you would not pull out your ultraportable to check a wine list while at a restaurant, while you might use your phone for that.
Mar 31, 2009
Kent
Great point about orientation–I love meeting people who get what mobility and marketing (and content distribution) are all about.
I agree with all of your points, but I am not 100% sold on your point about netbooks. I am starting to come around, as I cannot yet think of a good counter argument–I may have to admit I am wrong
Apr 01, 2009
As I see it, Netbooks have two things that separate them back from being mobile devices. The first is form. They are two handed devices (keyboard) , which makes using them without a surface to place them on difficult. They are still just too big for most people to use them “on the go”. However, even were tabletized they’re still to big for most people to carry them around all the time, and especially to use while walking. Compare a smartphone or even an iPod touch, which fit in the palm of your hand and only takes on hand to operate (hell, you can hold and operate it in one hand). This makes them easier to use on the go, an thus more likely to be used in a ‘mobilely’ (aint that a fun sounding word) context, while a netbook is more likely to be used in a sit down context.
The second is that, due to the more standard (and efficient) interfacing a netbook will likely tend more towards more creation oriented applications (example blog posts, long comments, writing), while the input limitations on a mobile will result in less content creation, and more light/passive consumption (light being stuff like reading content and perhaps tweeting, and passive being stuff like watching movies and listening to music).
Sep 18, 2009
Just the sort of data I’ve been looking for! I’m still somewhat new to binaural beats.