Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

• Tweet, tweet went the congressman [CNN] - Many Republicans apparently learned from Obama's media strategy during the election, as CNN was quick to point to several members of Congress tweeting away on their BlackBerries during the president's speach. @BarackObama U Suk ... LOLZ ... :P
• MWC 2009 Recap [Next Generation Mobile Content] - One observant Mobile World Congress attendee notes the hot trends including touch UIs and app stores, as well as a conspicuous lack of mobile content.
• Mattel Digital Network - After the success of Barbie's virtual world (BarbieWorld.com) and the debut of some very cool brain-powered games like MattelMindFlex, Mattel announced  its intentions to become a bigger player in the digital space with the "Mattel Digital Network," an online destination for interactive programming and content.
• The Mobile Web Is for Fun and the PC Web Is for Everything Else [GigaOM] - There's a correlation between those who access the internet on their phone and those on a PC. A little shocking? Not really. But a study determined that the heaviest mobile internet users are Males between 18-44...and apparently iPhone users have more fun. Again, not so shocking.
• ‘Mission Impossible’ movies to be included on Samsung phones [RCR Wireless News] - This phone will self-destruct in five seconds. Samsung is teaming up with Paramount Digital Entertainment to package the entire "Mission Impossible" trilogy onto phones sold through Alltel. In order to blunt this action-packed offensive and up the ante, Apple is rumored to be forcing new subscribers to defeat Michael Dudikoff in hand-to-hand combat at select AT&T locations.
• Study Finds iPhone Users Stop Using Downloaded Apps Soon After Purchasing Them [Geek Sugar] - Sure, the app store is posting some impressive numbers, but how many neglected HammerTime download have been relegated to the back page and forgotten? But you'll keep it, just in case you ever want to watch the full version of 2 Legit 2 Quit.
• Combi iPod Bouncer [Think Geek] - Keep on rocking my baby ... Combi's iPod bouncer is way cooler than some animatronic penquin that gyrates to a classic rock midi. Let your infant rock out to hits from Ben Folds Five, Britney Spears or maybe even some old school Kreator. Don't be surprised if they skip walking and go straight to dancing!
• Twitter first to publish dramatic crash pictures [CNN] - Twitter is news you can trust - at least this one time. They were the first to document photos of the the Turkish Airlines crash in Amsterdam ahead of traditional media. After seeing it on the popular website, CNN confirmed the details of the crash then reported the story..
• iPhone 3G to finally hit China this spring [Unwired View] - China is finally getting the iPhone. This spring Apple will at last tap into this market of 130 million cell phone customer and for once, America had it first - savor this moment, for it is fleeting and will not last.
• Archdiocese of St.Louis to announce new Archbishop via SMS - The announcement of St. Louis's new Archbishop of will be broadcast live via text message. Anyone who has signed up on the website will receive a text as soon as the announcement is made.

Having a name like "Next Great Thing" we are often asked, "So... What is it?" Over the next few months, we'll be blogging our "Top Mobile Trends" every Monday to help answer that question.

Now, we aren't claiming we've discovered these ("Twitter! Eureka!!"). Rather, we'll be presenting the prevailing themes we've seen emerging over the past few years, along with some examples, analysis, and projections. If you know of other examples we didn't include, or have thoughts or comments, please share!

The Evolution of Microblogging

The age of the personal blog is coming to an end. People have finally accepted that no one was reading their Typepad page, so they got off the couch and joined the microblog party. These sites, such as Twitter, Plurk, Fanfou, and to some extent Tumblr let users share (and overshare) through short "micro" posts (and eavesdrop on the "conversations" others). To draw an analogy with Facebook, these are streams of "status updates" that can be easily logged via the web, SMS or IM.

Now people are also microblogging through visual media as well. We first saw this phenomenon on Flickr as it became a platform for people to capture and caption their lives (or just their faces). Daily Mugshot and Flickaday are both built around this desire to self-catalogue.

Lifecasting

Microblogging with video brings it closer to what we call "livestreaming" or "lifecasting" (i.e. broadcasting your life). This term originally referred to 24/7 streamers like Justin.tv, but is now essentially using video to stream your life online, in any length. This is becoming easier by the minute. Thanks mostly to the cell phone, there's no longer a need to strap a camera to your head. Several popular services make it dead simple to "lifecast" via mobile to the web, including Juicecaster, Kyte, and Qik.  It's easy, even 50 Cent is doing it.

If you need proof that this is going mainstream, just check out this weekend's New York Times. Also look at the number of ancillary services that have cropped up around all these sites. Summize (purchased by Twitter) FriendFeed, Yoono, and TwitBuzz, to name a few, all help aggregate feeds, search sites or track buzzworthy topics. This aggregation taps into what is called "lifestreaming," aggregating your multimedia content from a host of sources. Robin Good boils it down well in this beginner's guide.

Convergence: Multimedia Microblogging

As technology speeds along, though, the boundaries that define these terms are disappearing. All-in-one services are emerging, letting you microblog with multimedia i.e. post photos, video, text, music, and other content. Twixtr mashes up Twitter with photos; Twiddeo merges it with video; Seesmic is its own video microblogging community; Utterz is an emerging mobile-driven platform that uses voice, video, text and images; Zannel is quite similar, but has developed a "professional" presence (bands, studios) as well. This sort of multimedia microblogging will simplify your online life. No need to go to multiple sites, these give you all the tools you need.

Now that the technologies are synonymous, the terms can be defined by content: lifestreaming/casting is all about you, microblogging need not be. However, that seems to be everyone's topic of choice, so they are becoming interchangeable: Zannel calls itself a "mobile blogging tool" that lets you save to your "life stream" and touts the tagline "your life in real time." Plurk calls itself a "social journal" that put "your life, on the line."

A New Paradigm

Whatever you call it, this is a new paradigm, one that will flourish in the hands of youth through multimedia. Just think about what young people do on their phones (texting and taking pictures), then tie this to what they are doing online (social networking) and it makes perfect sense. And pretty soon, everything will be viewable through the handset, bringing about a new level of connectedness among the next generation.

Anyone who follows "trends" can tell you that not everything is worth its buzz. So what differentiates a one-hit wonder from the "next great thing"? Well, is it useful? And are people using it?

With these factors in mind, we devised intricate mathematical equations, ran very complicated algorithms, spent countless hours testing and trialing, then scrapped it to create a pretty chart (it's a hyperbola, get it?). With nothing but our educated opinions, the web and the 2003 version of Photoshop, we plotted some recent trends and technologies by the factors of perceived hype versus actual usefulness. (To understand why useless things get popular, read up on cumulative advantage.)

Here, see what lives up to the buzz, and what is all talk:

(Illustration by Forest Taylor)

From the top-left, proceeding counter-clockwise:

1. The Jonas Brothers: Like fellow Disney-backed superstar Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers blasted onto the pre-teen scene (or thereabouts) with all the force of a candy-coated hammer. Sure they've got talent, but, like Ms. Montana, there's quite a bit of hype involved, like a lot of hype. Sorry boys, see you in Tiger Beat.

2. Muxtape: Muxtape sure did have a lot of hype, and then it got served - legally. The hype for sharing personal music mixes survives, though, and it is undoubted that Muxtape is part of a larger trend in mixtape discovery sites.

3. Loopt: This location-based service beat others to the punch with an iPhone app (and popped neon collars.) Too bad it spammed everyone and showed their whereabouts without permission. Any social network-based LBS needs to have numbers to be useful, and Loopt just isn't there yet.

4. Tumblr: Microblogging met macroblogging with this innovative platform, but Tumblr needs to improve their skinny interface and confusing citations to really win us over.

5. Face Your Manga: There's not a lot to Face Your Manga, but you've never had as much fun wasting time either. So, yeah, it's mostly hype and you're not going to get a lot of utility out of it, but you will get a sweet avatar for your Twitter account.

6. Urban Spoon: This iPhone app even made the New York Times coverage when it launched, and while its fun to use the motion sensor, its restaurant recommendations will leave you hungry for a real guide.

7. Twitter Spam: JDE287uh9w8 is following you. Sweet! First random facebook friends, now robots spamming you on Twitter. Not that we have anything against robots, but they often don't have many interesting things to say.

8. Blanka: If you enjoyed Street Fighter as a youth, or if you still do, chances are - at one point - you took a chance on Blanka. Were you rewarded? Maybe, but it was probably by accident. Sure, Blanka looks tough and if you mash the right buttons, he electrocutes his opponent, but everyone knows that Chun-Li is the best, and Blanka only matches up against Zangief and his inexplicable shin hair ...

9. Emotes: They're not getting a lot of attention and we're not sure they deserve it yet, but Emotes are an interesting idea. A social site for youth, Emotes allow youngsters to work through their emotions in third person (via the aptly named "Emotes"). There's a story in there somewhere, but for now it's an interesting take on the common theme of social networking.

10. Placefav: The unique thing about Placefav is that it cuts to the point with location, location, location. Of all the things we snap on film, place is perhaps the most binding, as it sets a context. Placefav could be big for those who just want their images served up simply.

11. Instapaper: You see a thousand articles a day that are worth reading (RSS - noooo!) but you just don't have time. While Instapaper isn't offering you the best-case scenario - a time machine - they are offering the next best, which is a way to read it later. Which we still never did...until the Instapaper iPhone app! Genius.

12. Dodgeball: This LBS is an oldie but goodie that is dead simple to use. While Dodgeball's time in the spotlight may have passed, we'll keep "checking in" until something better comes along.

13. Drop.io's Drop It Toolbar: Drop.io is awesome and if you don't know, now you know. Even more awesome is Drop.io's "Drop It" toolbar for Firefox. All you have to do is drag the file to be transferred over to the red dot on your browser. Once it's done uploading, it will pop up in a new window. It's easier than cake and twice as sweet.

14. Nokia N95: Speaking of time machines, we're not sure the Nokia N95 isn't one. It has everything else: pictures, movies, browsing, texting, barcode reading, video ringers, GPS... At a whopping $900, it's supplanted the iPhone as THE status symbol for mobile youth.