I read on TechCrunch a couple of weeks ago that 25% of Facebook users access Facebook via their mobile device. I then read this post from Merrit Colaizzi on the fact that mobile and social media are now a “hot couple”. I’m sure members of mig33 would argue that this has been true for a while but I think the point is, the mobile Internet is finally at a state where sharing items (aka being social) is now a multi-medium (aka more enriching) activity.
One of the things that was mentioned that has always been true; the customer is in charge. In the old days, they simply did not buy your product if it was lacking. Maybe told a couple pf people their opinion. Now they Tweet about all the things that it lacks and the fact that they are not going to buy it. It’s like there are 40,000 people around the water cooler.
Psychologically, social going mobile makes sense since most mobile users see their devices as an extension of themselves. (Most see their friends the same way.) Users were just waiting for the device to catch up. Now that it has, I’m curious to see how fast the behavior of the masses changes. I then saw this awesome guest post (a must read) from Antonella Stellacci on TheNextWeb that mentions several of the trends around location based services and augmented reality. From this post, it’s obvious that businesses are following the users, who are becoming conduits or satellites, to lead them to new business models. (See fourSquare.)Much like terrestrial social media, the business’s role is to provide the the platform and the user base will own it. The business will need to partner with the users on how to monetize. Maybe a freemium model or a rev share for users who develop partnerships with local businesses. Looks like we’re getting down the Jeremiah Owyang’s path quicker than I thought.
The video of the iPhone application shown below give you a glimpse of what this could look like I would prefer to view location based offers through an augmented reality browser like Layar. This will be a very very cool way to discover deals and events. Can’t wait!
