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The Malcontent of the Term “Mobile Content”
by: Bob Roth
The following article discusses how to better convert a web user to a mobile user and the challenges that lie within.

We all know the immutable laws of web site conversion can be summarized as follows:
1. You have less than eight seconds to capture a web page visitor
2. Once captured, the next click must be obvious
3. Once clicking, minimize the steps needed to complete the desired action

The difficulty lies in maximizing information in a minimized process. You must be able to present what the majority need to see to complete your desired action. There will always be those who seek more information and tangents can be provided for them. Now, add another dimension to the “desired action” by making that action something that you wish for them to do offline. That, my friends, is largely the challenge that we have at 4INFO. Not to take anything away from our web search service, because it does try to do something that the other engines do not by actually giving you an answer and not pointing you to one elsewhere (see 4INFO Blog: 4INFO's Bond. James Bond & Focused Search). But, getting a user to make the leap from, “I can get all of this info from my computer,” to, “I have access to all this info when I am NOT in front of my computer,” can be challenging. Especially, when dealing with an industry that hasn’t quite settled on what to call the segments within it. Mobile search's popularity is increasing every day, yet there is still an opportunity to sanity check the terms we use to describe the industry.

There are four terms that we use on a regular basis in the world of 4INFO mobile. These are, Mobile Content, Mobile Download, Mobile Information, and Mobile Search.

Before we get into how these terms apply in the mobile sense, let’s first look at what they mean in a general (and very simplified) sense:

Content
Something contained. The proportion of a specified substance present in something else.

Download
To transfer a file or program from a one computer to another computer.

Information
Knowledge derived from study, experience, or instruction. Knowledge of specific events or situations that has been gathered or received by communication

Search
To make a thorough examination of; look over carefully in order to find something; explore.

Now that we have these definitions in front of us, let’s look at the industry’s current definition of Mobile Content. [per Wikipedia]

Mobile content is any type of media formatted for mobile phones, like ringtones, graphics, games and movies. The use of mobile content has grown dramatically. Ringtones, for instance, are currently (2005) the most widely used mobile media forms. A mobile game is a piece of content that is installed on mobile phones so that the user can play the video game right no their mobile handset. A wallpaper is simply a graphic that is formatted to fit the screen of hand held devices, mainly cell phones.

At 4INFO, we define the remaining terms as follows:

A mobile download is a piece of content (ringtone, wallpaper, game, audio, video, etc.) that is transferred from a host location to a mobile device.

Mobile information is comprised of the categories of services that we provide via our suite of search channels, such as local directory, sports scores, fantasy stats, weather, flight schedules, movie times, and stock quote searches, to name a few. These impart knowledge through communication with our servers.

Therefore, mobile search is the process of locating mobile downloads and mobile information via a mobile device.

So, where does this term “mobile content” come into play? I believe that you can shorten the above statement to read, “Mobile search is the process of locating mobile content via a mobile device.” For this case, the definition of “mobile content” must add “mobile information” to its list of attributes.

But, that is not what I would do.

What does the consumer think? I took a quick poll of 10 non-mobile search types, where I simply asked them to define the four phrases that we’ve been discussing. I realize this technique will not go down in the annals of mobile research, but if there is one thing to take from it – every single person defined a “mobile download” the same way, while fewer than half stated a definition of “mobile content” similar to that in Wikipedia.

I am not content with the term Mobile Content. Let’s get rid of it.

I have been dealing with these terms over the past several months as we have been redesigning the 4INFO web site in an effort to address these types of issues. It didn’t occur to me to write this post until I read a statement by the Pondering Primate earlier this week where he said, “Every time we hear the phrase ‘mobile search’ let’s replace it with ‘mobile info.’”

At first, I whole-heartedly agreed with him. Then, I turned around to resume testing 4INFO’s new Mobile Downloads Search service and realized that “mobile search” is more than just locating “mobile information.” It is also the location of “mobile downloads” now that 4INFO has this service in beta.

Mobile search is the process of locating mobile downloads and mobile information via a mobile device.

That’s my stake in the ground and I am here to defend it.


About the author:
Bob Roth fell into the world of Internet Marketing in the mid-90's when the sole job requirement was being a warm, hard-working body. He has since worked with Yahoo!, broadcast.com, SimpleNet, NetIdentity, and currently serves 4INFO.net as the keeper of the company message, outreach specialist, and creative cerebrum.


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How Video can be used Effectively Online

A powerful way to convey your communication messages to your audience is to be able to have your promotional video available on your website.

Yet, we have probably all experienced visiting a website and clicking on a video only to have to been irritated that the content is not viewable or that the sound is inaudible. The result is we leave the website in frustration.

So how do you make sure the video content on your website can be watched by your audience? It all boils down to how you want your viewers to access your video file and the level of video quality you want your movie to be played at.

There are two different ways of sharing your video file on the web:

1. Streamable Video

This is where the viewer is able to download sections of your video (otherwise known as "streaming"), while the video is playing. The main benefit of this method is that the user does not have to spend time downloading the complete video before viewing.

There are three major streaming video formats ? RealVideo (RM), QuickTime (MOV) and Windows Media (WMV). These are playable on Real Player, QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player respectively. Windows Media Player is widely available on most PC's, as it is part of Windows Operating System. The other players need to be installed.

The only negative with streamable video is that the quality of the video is dependent upon Internet connection. In addition, it has the annoying habit of dropping video frames because the streaming software has to adjust the data rate based on the speed of your Internet connection, in order to keep playing the video.

2. Download and Play

This is where the viewer needs to download the entire video first, then play it on their video player application. The main advantage is that the video quality is not affected by Internet connection speed.

However, it can take some time for the video to download if the file is large.

So which format do you choose?

In a world where first impressions always count, it is extremely important for companies to appear professional and trustworthy at all times. Marketing videos with poor picture quality are likely to reflect a poor quality company in the mind of the viewer. Consequently, we always recommend the download and play option. This is because it allows for high quality video content to be viewed.

However, as you don't want viewers to give up on downloading your video, we only recommend that short video clips are inserted onto your website.

This means your website users will be able to download a short video at a high quality picture resolution that will portray your company in the best possible way.

(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2004. All rights reserved.

Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast. Digicast works with organisations who are not satisfied that their marketing and training materials are helping their business grow. She can be contacted on 0500 800 234 (Australia wide) or at mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at http://www.digicast.com.au.

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