mobile

One thing that I’ve been diligent in talking about here at 10,000 Words is creating a mobile presence. By 2014, mobile Internet is poised to take over desktop Internet usage, so the time to start strategizing is now. But with the dizzying array develop other Internet-connected devices, what’s the best way to begin this process? As I’ve stated before, the work of creating a mobile presence is less about aggregating current content and more about developing an information workflow. Luckily, the Poynter Institute has you covered with their latest workshop: Developing a Smarter Mobile Strategy.

The workshop will take place from March 28, 2012 – March 30, 2012. Here is some information about the workshop from Poynter:

Even if you’ve got some mobile products under your belt, we’ll help you learn to develop mobile news content and revenue strategies. You’ll gain insight into improving the working relationship with vendors and better ways to use your mobile metrics. We’ll help you sort through the issues in creating smart phone and tablet apps vs. using the mobile Web.

Knowledge about revenue strategies around mobile content is extremely important. According to Gartner, a leading IT research and advisory firm, worldwide mobile advertising revenue was forecasted to reach $3.3 billion in 2011 and $20.6 billion by 2015. “Mobile advertising is now recognized as an opportunity for brands, advertisers and publishers to engage consumers in a targeted and contextual manner, improving returns,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner. With HTML5 video on the rise, this will present a new avenue for organizations to approach advertising on mobile devices.

You’ll also learn these topics from Poynter during the workshop:

• A process for developing and improving your mobile strategy
• The latest information on mobile audiences
• How to manage mobile product development
• How to make the most of your mobile efforts in spite of fast-changing technology
• The basics of mobile usability
• Best practices in vendor relationships

Sessions will be led by Poynter faculty members Regina McCombs, Sara Quinn, and Kelly McBride, and will include research sessions with Robert McCann, Jr., of the Nielsen Company, David Butler of The New York Times Regional Group, and Janel Jacobs of the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun Sentinel.

For more information about this exciting and informative workshop, visit the workshop page. All applications for the workshop are due by February 24, 2012.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.

With today’s technology, it’s becoming abundantly clear that every reporter should have a mobile reporting kit stashed in his or her car or bag. But what do you put in it?

This past weekend, Columbia School of Journalism hosted its second annual Social Media Weekend. While there, Anjali Mullany, New York Daily News‘s social media editor, filmed this excellent video interview with MSNBC’s Meg Robertson. In it, Robertson details what she has in her mobile reporting kit.

I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of these must-haves Robertson mentions. Read more

Here on 10,000 Words, we’ve shown you a few tips on how to define your newsroom’s mobile presence, as well as some other helpful tips for reaching news junkies on the second screen. A recent report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism showed that 53% of tablet owners are daily news consumers. And while the iPad still dominates the tablet marketplace, Android tablets are popping up all over the place this holiday season from manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. Even Amazon has recently entered the fray with their own Android-powered tablet device: the Kindle Fire. Google continues their rapid-fire push into the tablet arena with their latest application: Google Currents.

Google Currents allows users to browse their favorite magazines, newspapers and websites in an attractive and elegant format. Google has joined with over 150 publishing partners to offer content, including Saveur, Popular Science, Fast Company, ProPublica, Forbes, The Atlantic, and more. Consumers have over 180 editions of formatted content to choose from once they download the app to their Android or iOS device. But the best thing about Google Currents is that anyone can create their editions for the app. Google has created an intuitive self-service platform that gives you the ability to customize, brand and style your Google Currents edition to match your organization or website. (Note: the Google Currents app is only available in the US, but users worldwide can create their own editions.)

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A few months ago, we gave some tips on how to define your mobile newsroom presence. One of those tips talked about keeping Flash at a minimum for mobile devices:

While there are mobile devices which can run Flash, using Flash should be avoided for both mobile sites and applications. For video, recent studies show that HTML 5 outperforms Flash on mobile devices.

Yesterday, Adobe announced that they will be ceasing development of the mobile version of Flash Player for mobile browsers in order to continue their focus on HTML5. This is huge news for any organization which uses Flash for mobile websites to deliver multimedia content or interactive graphics.

According to Adobe VP Danny Winokur, “HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.” While these are strong words from Adobe, it’s important to note that any organization that begins to transition its Flash content to HTML5 must keep two important thoughts in mind.

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Instapaper, the tool that allows us to save those super-long magazine stories for later, pushed out a major update to its popular iOS app on Monday.

The tool allows you to click a bookmarklet in your browser when you see a story you like, then pushes a cleaned up, iOS-optimized version of those stories to its $4.99 app. After the article is downloaded to the app, an Internet connection is no longer required, making the app a must-have for frequent flyers.

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