Mobile is at the forefront of rethinking communication. But in order to understand its potential we need to look beyond the SMS’s, the appvertising and the text voting. We need to stop thinking of mobile as a technology and a tool, and look at it through the eyes of people and their behavioral abilities; because its people, not features, that should drive innovation in communication.
- About a year ago, after publishing the presentation , commissioned me to write it into an article. The magazine has finally been published and I thought I’d share a short summary here, and a link to the magazine with the full article, which is available for free download.
1. Everyday Life
We need to understand the following: Even if people are technologically available, it doesn’t mean they are behaviorally available. And as marketing moves from the battle of stories (in media) to everyday life, it changes from thinking about shortsighted attention strategies to long-term relationship strategies.
2. Design
Behavioral Psychologist Donald Norman has been quoted saying:
- “Each time a new technology comes along, new designers make the same horrible mistakes as their predecessors. Technologists are not noted for learning the errors of the past. They look forward, not behind, so they repeat the same problems over and over again.”
3. Gaming
There are clear guidelines and suggestions to what creates a livable, breathable community. And it has little to do with the gathering of content and more to do with the lubrication of the exchange of ideas through mechanics and dynamics.
4. Eco-System
Mobile is a trigger, a lead generator, a remote, a sensor and a recording device, using its capacity to be everywhere at any time. Creating relevance for the brand and value for the participant.
5. Collaborative / social
An interesting thing in regards to the telephone is how quickly we forgot it was a collaborative device as soon as we put computers into them. It’s as if the computer makes our imagination turn antisocial.
6. Context
Context is about understanding the situation where the product is relevant, and designing services that create additional value inside this situation. The goal is to create a more unique brand experience, rendering the product invaluable.
7. Objects
What we need to understand is that mobile strategy is not about being accessible through and application on the phone, its increasingly about helping people connect to stuff in the real world.
8. Value Chain
A purchase is the result of a chain of events happening in mostly random order from the customer’s first gathers interest in an object and to it switches hands. Digital has a clear role in this process but often fails to prove its direct effect on sales due to black holes; non-digital, non-recordable steps in the purchase process.
9. Chess
Our eagerness to measure direct sales has lead us into a haze, where the simplicity of measuring our ability to transport people around the web has come in the way of seeing these connected platforms real potential – establishing lasting relationships with participants through fresh content, conversations, ideas and limitless value.
10. Remote Control
The chip implant in the back of our neck, or inside the retina, might be some decades away, but mobile is already offering a lot of the functionality presented in sci-fi movies as a remote control to communicate and respond to future connected environments.
11. Spimes
A spime is an abbreviation of the combination of space and time, referencing an object that combines temporal awareness with geographic location.
Spimes are only hampered at the moment by our inability to imagine its greatness. Lets look beyond coupons and augmented reality layered maps, and integrate SPIME functionality into our services and eco-system.
12. Sense/record
The beauty of digital is its ability to record anything – as it is happening. The mobile becomes a huge sensing device.
This carries with it two great opportunities, the first one is as a measuring device, giving us access to knowledge we have never had previously, the other is in regards to the richness of data we can acquire when technology obtains it without demanding any conscious participation on our behalf.
Please find the full magazine available for download from the Blink Magazine website.
Image by: Dru Bloomfield
Original Post: http://www.180360720.no/index.php/archive/12-reasons-to-rethink-mobile/