Last week Don Akchin posted an insightful interview with John Kenyon of NTEN about some of the trends he sees in social outreach and technology for nonprofits. On Don’s final question about upcoming developments, John stressed the fact that mobile communications are the next wave nonprofits have to be preparing for:
One thing I keep hearing more about and seeing more evidence about is mobile. If folks are keeping on top of their website analytics, every week they are seeing an increase in the number of folks accessing their site via a mobile device. A couple of things go along with that change. One is creating a mobile version of your site that is a pared down version and designed for mobile devices. The other is to be aware of the kinds of people using mobile devices and how they use them.
Mobile was a major topic at NTEN’s annual conference this past April in San Francisco, and they have been posting videos about that very topic so we all can share in the knowledge. What is your organization doing to prep for mobile?
If you’re not convinced mobile access to information is the next tech development, consider this recent set of statistics presented during a webinar hosted by the Nielsen Ratings Agency yesterday:
- 1 out of 5 people that stream Broadcast Media online are moms
- 1 out of 4 moms use their tablet while watching TV
- 9% of moms regularly scan QR codes with mobile phones to compare prices
These numbers are not huge, but the fact that moms are creating those numbers is significant in at least two ways. First, moms are not generally appreciated to be tech mavens, so if they are moving towards mobile interaction you can bet other sectors of the population are. Second, moms teach their children and kids watch their moms. So the next generation will simply assume mobile communication. Nonprofits need to be moving toward mobile!
And so says Scott Lenger, who encapsulated his talk at NTEN in this video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq80nafCJqQ[/youtube]
What excites him from a user point of view is the fact that mobile encourages interaction both between the nonprofit and the citizen and among the citizens interested in the nonprofit. In one of his examples, a nonprofit’s mobile site can tap into information being shared among smartphone users at different local events to advertise to still others that these events are going on and people can head right over to whichever activities seem the most valuable/engaging.
He also points out the comparative ease of developing a mobile site from your traditional website. Is your organization developing plans to augment your mobile presence? Are you really prepared to miss the next generation?
