Infosys Publishing Practice Blog

The report found "the trend to integrate social, local and mobile experiences is driving the geosocial phenomena. People want to find out not only what their friends are doing, but also their location and other available activities in the area. Geosocial networks are particularly suited to the mobile space as most smartphones now include GPS, and have an 'always on, always connected' experience."

This also means digital content strategies for mobile social media will need to be reconstructed based on how content is consumed on these platforms. Unlike the PC/notebook era, mobile devices come in a dizzying array of screen sizes, platforms and user interfaces. Add to that the context in which the user is accessing the content. Context could be a mashup of any or all of the following:

Device: Smartphone or tablet. Size of screen etc.

Location: Where is the content being consumed...at home, while commuting, in an outdoor environment, in a noisy indoor area like a restaurant or a mall.

Time: When is the content being consumed and what would be the most relevant information at that time.

Social Relevance: What is their network consuming probably at that time and location. Also what are other people in their vicinity consuming.

Personalization: To what degree can the content be tailored to an individual. One way of doing this would be through data analytics of user and group behavior to serve up increasingly relevant content.

Attention Spans: If web attention spans were low, they are even lower on mobile devices. According to a survey on mobile content consumption users typically consumed:

 a) Less than three paragraphs of text

 b) Less than 30 seconds of audio

 c) Less than one minute of video

Mobile social media creates new and exciting ways for publishers to connect to their audiences. It also opens up new revenue opportunities. For instances publishers have long struggled to replace revenue lost from classifieds. Online classifieds have not managed to get back local businesses that were the backbone of the classifieds eco-system. 

The mobile platform however provides a powerful and compelling tool for publishers to  try and attract back this segment. The ability to target audiences at specific locations and times is a powerful tool for local businesses. Imagine a restaurant being able to send out its lunch special to customers within a defined geography. 

Creating the right content for the mobile environment is both an opportunity and a significant challenge. What is clear if traditional web 1.0 content strategies are not going to cut it.