As a mass media, mobile is to the (legacy PC based) internet, as TV is to radio according to Tomi T. Ahonen, co author of Communities Creates Brands. Actually, Tomi’s url is “Community Dominates BLOGS”, which I don’t think anyone would argue with.
Ahonen tells us why mobile devices are the 7th Mass Media:
..it is first of all, the first mass media that can do everything each of the SIX previous mass media can do. Yes, like the internet, the phone can replicate all of the traditional mass media - we can read printed content like newspapers (print, the first mass media) download music recordings (second mass media), watch movies (third) listen to radio (fourth) watch TV (fifth mass media). Not all of it is as convenient or comfortable, but all of it is possible on (advanced handsets) of mobile today. Just like all of them are available also on the internet today.
…There are nearly twice as many mobile phones as TV sets. Twice as many people use messaging on a phone (SMS text messaging) as use e-mail on the web. But mobile was first a communication device. It emerged as the 7th mass media only by the year 2000. By far the youngest of the seven mass media, the mobile is also by far the least understood.
Tomi argues that Mobile devices can do the same mass media things TV, Radio, personal computer, etc, can do and other things no other media has done before:
We should NOT try to replicate the existing internet onto the mobile. Mobile is not a “small internet”, it is a NEW mass media. As different from the internet as TV is from radio. We can do so much MORE on the phone that cannot be done on the internet. Like built-in cameras. We don’t need to have a format which clumsily requires us to type long web addresses, if we build the interactivity around the camera - use 2D barcodes for example, which bypass typing altogether.
Tomi T. Ahonen has written a 2 Thought Piece on Mobile as the new Mass Media - he’ll send you a copy if you contact him at: tomi@tomiahonen.com.
I had not really thought about Mobile Devices in the same way as Television or the Internet; maybe it’s time we look at Mobile Devices and networks as their own Mass Medium beyond the extension of the internet, movies or radio. Anyway, you can read Ahonen’s entire post on Mobile as the 7th Mass Media here.
As a mass media, mobile is to the (legacy PC based) internet, as TV is to radio according to Tomi T. Ahonen, co author of Communities Creates Brands. Actually, Tomi’s url is “Community Dominates BLOGS”, which I don’t think anyone would argue with.
Ahonen tells us why mobile devices are the 7th Mass Media:
..it is [...]
