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

1. an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished: Words are a medium of expression.
2. 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!

1. What is the mobile web?
2. Are there clear lines between the mobile web and what we commonly refer to as the web, necessitating dedicated, mobile web marketing teams?
3. Where does the laptop fit into the mix, it is mobile?
   1. 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.

Related articles by Zemanta

• It’s Big. It’s Very, Very Big! Did I Say It Was Big? (mobhappy.com)
• News Readership Increases on Mobile Phones (drinkingoatmealstout.com)
• Movie Store launched by Samsung Mobile (phonemag.com)
• big screen, small screen, two small screens. Beyond copying the web to mobile (sociallyminded.co.uk)
• Really fast Twitter growth (socialmediatoday.com)

Furthering my series of posts about mobile social networks, I would like to present you with some statistics:

• Users accessing Facebook on their mobile phones spent on average 24 minutes on the site compared with 27.5 minutes daily by computer users (link to story)
• Mobile phone users accessed the site on average 3.3 times per day, compared with 2.3 times for computer users, with the most avid mobile fans 18-24 year old males who spent on average 27 minutes on the site
• According to a survey by Nielsen Company on behalf of Tellabs, 71% of U.S. consumers plan to use some sort of mobile data service daily (the company did not have current daily usage information). Among current mobile Internet users, 55% planned to increase their usage of mobile data services in the next two years, and 48% planned to increase use over the next year. Among non-users, 29% planned to start during that same period (link)

What have we learned:

• Mobile data access is on the rise, therefore mobile social networks will also be on the rise
• The mobile device is perfect for social networking. While the average time spent on Facebook on a mobile phone is less than on a PC, people access it more frequently

It is my opinion that the mobile phone will be used more frequently as the device of choice for social networking; it just makes sense. Access to your social network when you are in social environments is key; these networks are becoming more utility than entertainment.

Your mobile phone is your Yellow Pages, your little black book and your compass to help navigate the seas of your social life.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Social Graph: Issues and Strategies in 2008 (web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com)
• comScore: The growing appeal of social networks in Europe (socialmediatoday.com)
• Facebook users get their knickers in a twist (timesonline.typepad.com)
• comScore: The growing appeal of social networks in Europe (nevillehobson.com)
• Phonezoo.com Continues Strong Growth with Second Consecutive Hitwise US Top 10 Award (seomashup.blogspot.com)
• Facebook Terms of Use Back to Normal (businesspundit.com)

Image via CrunchBase

 cross posted from the iMediaconnection blog

A number of years back I recall hearing an incredibly prescient quote from Morgan Stanley analyst, Mary Meeker. The quote spoke about localization and personalization-and how these elements would be key drivers in the growth of the web as a commercial platform. While these concepts are fairly obvious today-at the time (I believe it was around 2003) it was not as obvious. Needless to say Meeker’s statement had a profound effect on my work. Years later these notions have become fundamental elements of online marketing and are ingrained in my day-to-day operations (both professional and personal).

Localization Is Personal

With the onslaught of social networks, collaborative filters and search engines-there is no shortage of personalized content online. Localized content and services however are still fairly primitive, but remain one of the largest opportunities in digital commerce and communications. A bevy of new services aim to solve this problem, and it should come as no surprise that mobile phones are at the core of many of these services.

Geo+Social

Back in April Michael Arrington posted an epiphany he had about mobile social networks. This concept is one that I have been interested in for a while and could not have agreed with his commentary more (see my posts on what I was referring to as Social Networking 2.M). The value mobility adds to social network activity is-freedom from the shackles of the desktop-where social activity is largely virtual and often impersonal.  Mobility adds a human element to social networks. The mobile phone adds presence and experience sharing to social networking.  For those not following the space closely, I strongly recommend signing up for a few of the following applications:

• Loopt
• Whrrl
• Gypsii
• Twittelator (an iPhone app based on Twitter)

There are a lot more out there-this is my war chest.

Geo+Commerce

Having spent a significant amount of time focused on ecommerce, the promise of being able to search local, in-store inventory right from a mobile device is incredibly compelling. The marriage of clicks and bricks is something that marketers have sought after since the beginning of the ecommerce era. The marriage between online and offline marketing will be realized to a greater degree with the assistance of mobile commerce applications. Some applications you should be paying attention to in this space are:

• Slifter
• NearbyNow
• Scanbuy
• Frucall

One of the newer names in the space (the company is actually not new, they simply changed their name) is a company called Shopsavvy. They are incredibly hot this month due to the way in which their application takes advantage of the new T-Mobile G1 (powered by Android). The application combines the ability to scan bar codes, comparison shop both online and off-as well as a plethora of other features that include location and social media.

While I would never utter the words, “this is the year of mobile“, I do feel that mobile devices are getting us closer to the second part of Mary Meeker’s vision. Look out for further advances in the realm of localized content and services over the next year.