Community Mobilization

Flusquare

I love the Flusquare application becuase it is such a compelling mashup that delivers real meaningful data in a fun and interesting way. Leveraging your personal movements and the fact that you have flu-like-sypmtoms Flusquare is a reat overlay on an already popular program. Moreover the app give healthy people insights into where there are flu outbreaks and hotspots based on the check-ins of other people.

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The next question is who is going to buy and monetize this? I have a number of people and companies in mind that would love to send targeted coupons to folks who have flu-like-symptoms to drive sales. You can bet hey already have gotten an e-mail from me about this!

Mobile Revenue - Red Cross Campaign

Without a doubt the current humanitarian crisis in Hatti is on a scale far beyond our imagination. The international response underway is heroic and well intentioned. With persistence and time the vital supplies will reach those in need.

The supplies headed to Haiti cost money and the Red Cross has done an exceptional job using mobile phones as a donation channel for collecting revenuer. Mobile devices, and mobile carriers, first collected substantial contributions during the south east Asian tsunami that impacted banda Ache Thailand. 

The $25MM dollars in fund raising is significant because it is all coming in through a single traceable channel. Mobile Accord, the company behind the sms campaign, and the individual carriers are bale to see who is donating what and the Red Cross should be able to collect demographic information for future analysis.

Going forward large scale events like this open up eyes to the potnetial of using mobile devices as channels. What is not happening is the use of mobile devices as marketing channels - just collection channels.

Mobile marketing is advancing, but it still has to contend with the very personal connection that people have with their cellular devices and the belief that their cellular phones are no to be used by marketers for advertising products. New smart phones with GPS make delivering 'just-in-time' cupons and marketing messages easier, but there is a risk of getting a chilly reception from the customer if it is unwanted and seen as spam.

Mobile Giving Grows, Mobile is the new Commerce Platform

Steven Joost sent me a note cataloging the success of MGive sent out some end of year numbers that are very interesting and support the idea that Mobile, as a platform, is growing substantially. Jim Manis, Founder and CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation.  Manis says that, “The pervasiveness and ease of use of mobile technology combined with the gracious commitment of wireless carriers to pass through 100% of the donation collected will make this the channel of choice for new donors.” By the consistent activity over at the Mobile Active site Katrin Verclas believes the same thing, Mobile is the platform to be developing on right now.

How Google Android Will Change Enterprise

I just read an Article in Informationweek about the impact, or lack of impact, Google's Android G1 phone will have on enterprise. Like the iPhone, there is some push back from enterprise, particularly considering the synchronization issues with server side application such as Outlook / Lotus systems.

I believe that Mobile systems such as this will be a catalyst to get more enterprise systems on track to being web based. Unpopular early on, web based services offer an array of advantages to legacy systems. The problem is the sunk cost of the existing infrastructure and reluctance to scrap existing set ups and learn new technology.

If we are to be a truly mobile work force, it is critical to be able to have unfettered access to our work regardless of the device or platform we are using. Web based computing and services is a solution. I think that is where Google is going anyway. With their suite of online services already out in the marketplace it makes sense to build a mobile computing system (Android) and a web browser (Chrome) to maximize the impact and that is smart vertical marketing and integration.

Mobile Search and Phone Type

One of the critical trends to marketers in mobile usage is the increase in web enabled phones, and what their users are doing with them. With the advent of mobile data transfer phones have become extensions of personal computing. A recent eMarketer.com article details the  usage purpose of mobile internet on iPhones, Smart phones, and standard web enabled mobile telephones.

Of particular interest is the utilization rates that are significantly higher across the board for iPhone users. The curious question for me is, "Is it the phone, or the people?" Is there such a fundamental difference in the personalities of the individuals who buy iPhones than the rest of the smart phone audience, or is the technology just that much simpler to use that it entices people to use the net more often and for more things.

Either answer brings a lesson for awareness and marketing campaigns. If it is the people then there is a clear target audience built right into the product. Find ways to capture the high tech high propensity users and go forward with developing campaigns for them and only them via their favorite communication device - their iPhone. If the answer is it is the technology the obvious course is to identify upcoming direct competitors and link your self to those potential markets and for get about the demographic. If I had to wager a bet I'd say it is the people not the technology but only time and telephone company records will let us know for sure.

More mobile advertising

Continuing the Mobile theme for the week here is are some thoughts about the direction of Mobile Marketing. To sum it up in one word ... up. In a Wall Street Journal Article Advertisers to Consumers: We'll Text You, the journal provides numerous examples of how mobile phone marketing is taking off. One of the attractive elements of the cell phone text messaging system is that it is an opt in system - so customers are asking for the advertisements. To me the opposite should hold true - that the customer can turn off adds from any one vendor at their convenience.

Cell marketing company 4infor, a startup, recently entered into a partnership with Yahoo to deliver advertising. They are looking to grab a piece of the estimate $6 billion dollars of cellular based marketing. Part of this push will be the integration of traditional media and cell phones to create focused campaigns. One thing that is could throw a wrench into this plan is the social push back, that the mobile phone is a personal space where as radio, television, billboards and other spaces are public and advertisers are not welcomed to intrude. Blyk is a British telephone company that offers free cellphone plans with advertising on their mobile handsets.

Text messages and Philanthropy

The first time I saw txt messaging and fund raising it was back in 2005 around the Tsunami relief efforts. I do not remember the amount of money raised or the methodology through which they raised it (direct billing or carrier collected). Recently I have been reading information on the Chronicle of Philanthropy site regarding the advances by Mobile Giving Foundation and how they worked with the United Way on their Super Bowl campaign, which raised about $10,000.

The statistics are pretty clear that the mobile device is going to be the 1st piece of computing technology for an overwhelming percentage of the population of this planet. Our friend Katrin Verclas from Mobile Active.org has really embraced this idea with their efforts to turn the mobile phone into a change agent through awareness, education and activism.

Brightkite looks a lot like Dodgeball

I just got an invitation to join Brightkite, a private beta location based social network. From the outset the system seems to mirror Dodgeball, a three year old Mososo built by friends Dennis Crowley and Alex.

After playing with Brightkite I really do not see a whole lot of difference between it and other mososos I have seen in the past. The infuriating thing that this system may prevent is what Dennis calls the Ex-girlfriend situation. Once in a circle, always in a circle. It is the quintessential example of how technology does not always play nice with the social realties and proclivities of users.

I will give Brightkite a point for integrating other social space lists to help you connect with existing connections in new spaces. One of the more frustrating things when you experiment with a new system is trying to hunt down all of your real friends. I put in my Twitter user name and found a number of folks I would like to know their whereabouts, particularly during a conference. The heart breaking thing is that Verizon does not support the Brightkite platform yet. But like most innovations most people 'get it' after a while.

Games in the Wild

I am a sucker for real life interaction facilitated by technology. That is why I was so stoked to see this article about a company in the UK that is using geo-location to create interactions with the real world. Locomatrix is aimed at getting kids into interesting areas and playing cames with each other. using geo-location on their cell phones. They have preset games and mazes like Fruit Farmer and others. It reminds me of work on other projects such as Area Code.

Fitness on your Cellphone

Computational power continues to shrink and the eventual reality is that  our computing devices will follow suit. To a point we will be able to cram a movie theater, a home stereo a camera and a telephone into one ... But even more important is when we begin to include our health monitoring devices into the cellphone / smart phone package. The Micoach is a all in one device in conjunction with Adidas that incorporates fitness training programs into a fully loaded cell phone. The brains of the system is a Samsung phone that gets linked to a pair of shoes through rfid or blue tooth for tracking exercise. Available only in Europe at this point, look for Micoach and other integrated devices to help keep us healthier longer.