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Gallup poll: People connecting more through mobile tech 0

The results of a new Gallup poll is shedding light on how mobile technology substantially affects many aspects of our lives.

mobilecontentFor one, we’re in contact with friends and family more. Sixty-two percent of Americans polled say the use of smartphones and tablets has increased interpersonal communication a lot, with another 27 percent saying it has increased it a little.

We’re also working a bit more because of mobile devices. Gallup finds that two-thirds of U.S. workers say the amount of work they are doing outside of working hours has gone up a little.

The same cannot be said, however, about political activity. Even as candidates and elected officials pursue more effective ways to connect with voters and campaign contributors, more than half of those polled by Gallup say their involvement in political campaigns and similar activity has not increased because of mobile technology, although 17 percent say it has increased a lot.

Gallup polled 1,505 Americans 18 and older from March 21-23 to assess how mobile technology has affected their behavior in the personal, political and work areas.

The results are from a March 21-23 Gallup poll designed to assess how much mobile technology has affected Americans’ behavior in the personal, political, and work areas. The poll finds that seven in 10 Americans use either a smartphone or tablet.

The poll finds that mobile technology has increased Americans’ opportunities to stay in touch with each other. Those ages 30 to 49 are just as likely to use mobile devices more to communicate as adults 18 to 29. Americans older than 50, particularly those 65 and older, are less likely to be affected to a large degree.

It is likely, Gallup says, that mobile technology will foster even greater activity in the areas of communication, work and political activity in the future.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

Choices to make: Native apps vs. mobile web 0

Businesses looking to launch a mobile strategy have two choices to make: Does the company create a website specifically for mobile devices, or invest in the development of a downloadable app?

Decisions, decisions.

Even as smartphone and tablet users spend more than two hours a day on native apps, as opposed to 22 minutes daily on the mobile web, there are pros and cons for each. It’s up to the business to determine which is the best fit.

This infographic courtesy of Business2Community.com can offer some help to content marketing strategists with the task of making that decision. It compares native apps and the mobile web, the benefits and pitfalls of each, and how to make the best choice.

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We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

Why people like educational apps 0

Why do people buy educational apps for their mobile devices?

For kids and their parents, educational apps offer fun and creative ways to learn. Apps like Sprout Games and Videos for the iPad and First Words with Phonics for Windows motivate kids to work on their reading, math and other classroom skills, often using a familiar character like Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat.

A study by global trade organization MEF finds that 17 percent of mobile device users worldwide download an educational app. In its recently released report analyzing regional and global trends for mobile education products and services, MEF finds that educational apps rank ninth among all app categories.

But learning is not the prime motivation for people downloading education apps. Many users see them as playful or fun; the MEF study finds that 47 percent of people who buy an app from an educational site cited the entertainment value.

You can read more about MEF’s study in the infographic below.

educationapps_art

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

A billion mobile users are on Facebook 0

One out of every seven people in the world uses Facebook on a mobile device.

The social media giant reported in its quarterly earnings statement that it has exceeded the 1 billion mark for monthly active users on smartphones and tablets. The number of people who log in and visit Facebook on a daily basis with a mobile device, either to access or share content, is 609 million for the quarter that ended March 31.

That’s not counting those using Instagram or on Facebook messenger, which in themselves are each at over 200 million monthly users.

Of note in the company’s earnings report — and one that will have the attention of content marketing pros — is the 59 percent of advertising revenue that Facebook earned from mobile advertising revenue, up 30 percent from the first quarter of 2013.

Much of the revenue growth came from Facebook’s newsfeed ads, which inject paid marketing messages straight into a user’s stream of news and content and are ideally suited for the smaller-sized screens of smartphones and other mobile devices.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

Video: Mobile content tips from a pro 0

Compendium’s online marketing aficionado Eric Kotchi goes over some tips for those looking to launch a content marketing strategy that’s geared toward mobile devices.

He has some advice on plotting a mobile content strategy that is worth listening to for about a couple of minutes in this segment.

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

User experience counts in mobile content sites 0

Planning a content marketing strategy that includes mobile devices means taking the user experience into account.

It helps if the written or video content accessed through a smartphone or tablet is clear, concise, informative and easy to navigate.

placeit(13)But the worse a site looks or functions on a mobile device, the less likely people are to continue accessing the content on it.

Most users consider four seconds to be the threshold for a website to load. A recent survey by Trilibis, however, found that only 21 percent of websites were loading in less than four seconds on a smartphone.

According to Trilibis’ survey, 69 percent of responsive design websites, those that provide easy reading and navigation across a wide range of devices, fail to deliver acceptable load times on mobile devices. That means users trying to access these sluggish and underperforming websites were more than likely to move on to other companies’ pages that loaded faster.

That can cost a company customers, and brand exposure.

The user experience needs to be responsive, and fast. If performance is a problem, the site may need updating to improve the experience.

An abundance of marketing video segments may be part of the content plan for the site, but the downside is longer load times. Targeted consumer content for the mobile device may be better served by less bandwidth-intensive images.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

 

Think integration in mobile web design, content strategy 0

 

 

The challenge for creators of a content marketing strategy is making it work for a mobile device. Many ask whether they can effectively combine mobile Web design and content without sacrificing the successful elements of either site appearance or subject matter.

mobilecontentEffective mobile Web design and content marketing can work together to achieve the desired user experience, which is to make it engaging, educating, shareable and effective in its integration.

There are ways to get this done:

For one, marketing pros, designers and content writers need to work as a team to ensure the mobile design and content are properly integrated. The goal is to find a creative way to present the brand content that meets the objectives of the mobile site.

It helps also to outline the content strategy for the mobile website. Ask some questions geared toward how to optimize the user experience. What information to include, and how much of it? Who is looking at the information? Are they partial to smartphones or tablets in accessing information? Try to research, analyze and anticipate the needs.

Consider the device capabilities, such as touchscreens and cameras, that allow interactivity of the content between the device and the user.

One more thing: The content should be extended across all of your marketing mediums so that users can switch devices as they go, and still access the content.

Bottom line: More people are turning to mobile devices to access online content, so the integration of mobile web design and content strategies is essential.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

Nike drops FuelBand, exits wearable device market 0

Nike is repositioning itself in the wearable tech market.

The sports apparel giant has one of the pioneering products in wearable technology with its Nike + FuelBand fitness band that tracks the user’s workout and activity progress.

nikefuelband_artBut according to a report in CNET, Nike is getting out the hardware business to focus more on fitness and athletic software and apps. The company shelved plans for a slimmer version of the FuelBand device that was to come out in the fall, but will continue to sell the FuelBand + SE that has been on the market since November.

Nike’s more bears watching by those focusing on the wearables market, which is still looking to catch on with the mainstream public.

Interest in wearables is projected to grow, based on a recent report by IDC that says shipments of the devices are expected to more than triple by 2018 as they become functional, stylish and popular with the general public.

Complex accessories like the FuelBand and Fitbit fitness and activity monitors that operate when connected to a smartphone, tablet or PC are expected to lead shipments, according to IDC, followed by smart accessories like smartwatches and devices like Google Glass.

Yet the nascent market for wearables remains small at the present time, and, according to CNET, Nike had been looking to get out of wearable fitness devices for some time. The FuelBand accounted for only 10 percent of sales in the fitness band market. And, companies like Google, Apple and Samsung are investing heavily in wearable tech and loom as competition.

The end of the FuelBand device may be a setback for Nike, but not necessarily for wearable tech.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starwood Hotels launching Google Glass app 0

Did you buy a pair of Google Glass eyewear at this week’s one-day only blowout? You now have a use for them.

googleglass_artOne day after Google — according to some reports — exhausted its stock of the computer-equipped eyewear after offering the $1,500 devices at a one-day public sale to U.S. residents, Starwood Hotels announced plans to release an app that lets Google Glass wearers search its 1,100 hotels and resorts and reserve a room with voice commands.

The SPG for Glass app also allows users to get turn-by-turn directions, access up to date account information and explore hotel photos. A beta version of the app is undergoing testing.

It’s the latest tech-savvy move for the Stamford, Conn.-based lodging chain. As we posted recently, Starwood is working on a new virtual door key system for its hotels that allow guests to enter their rooms using an app on their smartphones, which would unlock the door via Bluetooth technology.

Agreement makes ‘kill switch’ standard on smartphones by 2015 0

The “kill switch” technology that can remotely disable a stolen smartphone will soon be standard by the summer of 2015.

lockedphone_artA new initiative announced this week by the wireless trade group CTIA has the backing of phone manufacturers Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft and others, and wireless carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Under the terms of the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment, smartphones manufactured after July 2015 for sale in the United States will have the technology to render the phone inoperable if it is stolen, remotely wipe out all data, and prevent reactivation without the authorized user’s permission.

The technology would also allow the reversal of the smartphone’s inoperability and retrieval of data if it is recovered by the authorized user.

The technology will be offered at no cost to consumers.

As we have posted before, theft is a serious problem confronting owners of mobile devices. In major cities like New York and San Francisco, smartphone theft accounts for half of all robberies.

It is estimated that it costs consumers about $580 million a year to replace stolen smartphones and about $4.8 billion a year in premiums to insure the handsets. The idea is for the disabling technology to be an effective deterrent by making the smartphones worthless to thieves.

The pledge marks a reversal by wireless carriers, which had resisted pressure from state lawmakers to make the kill-switch technology mandatory.

California legislators earlier this year introduced a bill requiring the technology to be installed in smartphones, and Minnesota’s legislature is poised to adopt a similar bill. Federal lawmakers proposed legislation in the House as well.

The CTIA had also originally opposed making the technology mandatory, citing potential hacking and privacy risks that could affected entire groups of smartphone customers.

Says Steve Largent, president and CEO of the CTIA:

“We appreciate the commitment made by these companies to protect wireless users in the event their smartphones are lost or stolen. … At the same time, it’s important different technologies are available so that a ‘trap door’ isn’t created that could be exploited by hackers and criminals. By working together with policymakers, law enforcement and consumers, we will deter theft and protect users’ personal information on smartphones.”