Mobile TV is Dead. Long Live Social Media.
Submitted by Pocketcine on December 19, 2006 - 7:43pm.
It is been just about almost year since I inked the last ideas for the Pocketcine project and framed it around the idea of mobile viral videos, then pitched it to the committee considering Mobile Muse projects. At the time there was huge hype around video for the mobile phone. My project treated the mobile phone and its video capability as a new medium that Canadian artists should explore and exploit.
I am sorry about the hype because it made people think I was making movies for the phone. Thankfully the hype has died down considerably. The pundits who never believed in the arrival of the new medium point to the tiny screen and say "who would want to watch a movie on that?"
I agree with them. Trying to hold a mobile phone at arms length in one spot long enough to watch even a TV program in the era of the 60 inch home theater experience seems improbable. And sharing anything longer than 30 seconds in a noisy environment is almost impossible. But that was not what I proposed exploring. I wanted to explore the mobile phone as a portable, connected media device. And I envisioned the content as short videos that people would share in social environments.
Part of the reason for the backlash on mobile video is that new technologies are often hyped by inventors, angel investors and marketing types long before they are ready to be adopted by users. The dot com boom failed because not enough people had high speed Internet to make e-commerce transactions and Internet entertainment people friendly. Now that the broadband Internet has reached critical mass, the businesses who survived the dot com implosion are making a lot of money. Major bricks and mortar retailers are finding their online stores are good profit centres because margins are much higher online. And consumers are going shopping on the Internet before they jump in the car or jump onto transit to make their purchases. Some are not even leaving home.
So two conditions need to be fulfilled before mobile video becomes a viable medium for artists. One is that the viewing experience needs to improve. Screens need to become larger, with a higher resolution, before consumers are going to become engrossed in mobile stories. Secondly, people need to be able to download content to their phone easily, without thinking about the cost.
I do believe these conditions will be met soon enough. The gold standard for mobile video playback has become 320x240 pixels and the screens are getting bigger. Carriers are beginning to offer better data plans. At least one carrier has brought the infamous walled garden down.
I am somewhat agnostic about the actual technology that will deliver a superior user experience. Rumour has it that the iPod will get a much larger screen and be connected to the cellular network. On the other hand, the iPod may have taught a generation of people how to load up their portable media devices with "free" content through a cable tethered to their Internet computer. Wi-Fi enabled devices might make instantly accessing content easier and better than downloading through a capable. I really don't care.
What I care about is the content. And I think the content is going to be shaped by why and where it is played and by whom. That will be the real evolution of so-called viral video.
The reason I believe mobile video is inevitable is because I believe people are going to share content in social places, like restaurants and around the office cooler. At first it will be the same kind of content that people are already storing on their phone: their favourite songs, pictures and video clips. A short assembled video of their wedding. And a clip from their favourite movie or TV show. In other words I think mobile video will first develop as social media.
I made this part of my pitch for Mobile Muse funding. I noted the phenomenon on the Internet of user created content. If you think back to a year ago, ask yourself if YouTube ever came up in conversation. Now it has become ubiquitous. YouTube is viral video. And the folks at Google believed in them enough to buy them for about three and one-half billion.
Viral video is not a short funny video clip. It is millions of people communicating with each other through video. The rating system, commenting feature and other social aspects of YouTube make it social media. Is it time to drop the "viral video" moniker?
Now I am not saying that I was right about the future of mobile video as short format social media. After all, YouTube plays on the computer, not the phone. But the idea that people will be able to put short format video content in their pocket or download it over the airis exciting. This instant accessibility anywhere is what makes the future of mobile video interesting.
People are not using their mobile phones for information. They use the Internet for that. They use their phones for social activities, like sharing a favorite video or song, or showing the video they assembled from clips taken at wedding in Mexico. Why is the cell phone not an information medium? For the same reason why the pundits thought TV on the phone would fail. The mobile screen is too small to act as an information terminal.
So although I am agnostic about the particular technology that will evolve around social media (cum viral video), I think I can say in general that the Internet will continue to be used by people for gathering information and shopping, not entertainment, while mobile devices will continue to be used by people for social reasons and entertainment and not information. Okay that is extreme. In all probability things will evolve somewhere between those two extremes. People will use the phone when they get stuck and need information and will use the Internet for infotainment (remember that hyped word?).
In any event, my focus all along has been on mobile screens and devices as the context for new types of entertainment and social engagement. The question about how the medium will develop is important, but ultimately video is a linear medium passively viewed. It will not matter what the delivery mechanism will be, just how it is used. The question about how a connected device will be used in social environments will impact on the design of a video is something I'll explore in the next blog.
I am sorry about the hype because it made people think I was making movies for the phone. Thankfully the hype has died down considerably. The pundits who never believed in the arrival of the new medium point to the tiny screen and say "who would want to watch a movie on that?"
I agree with them. Trying to hold a mobile phone at arms length in one spot long enough to watch even a TV program in the era of the 60 inch home theater experience seems improbable. And sharing anything longer than 30 seconds in a noisy environment is almost impossible. But that was not what I proposed exploring. I wanted to explore the mobile phone as a portable, connected media device. And I envisioned the content as short videos that people would share in social environments.
Part of the reason for the backlash on mobile video is that new technologies are often hyped by inventors, angel investors and marketing types long before they are ready to be adopted by users. The dot com boom failed because not enough people had high speed Internet to make e-commerce transactions and Internet entertainment people friendly. Now that the broadband Internet has reached critical mass, the businesses who survived the dot com implosion are making a lot of money. Major bricks and mortar retailers are finding their online stores are good profit centres because margins are much higher online. And consumers are going shopping on the Internet before they jump in the car or jump onto transit to make their purchases. Some are not even leaving home.
So two conditions need to be fulfilled before mobile video becomes a viable medium for artists. One is that the viewing experience needs to improve. Screens need to become larger, with a higher resolution, before consumers are going to become engrossed in mobile stories. Secondly, people need to be able to download content to their phone easily, without thinking about the cost.
I do believe these conditions will be met soon enough. The gold standard for mobile video playback has become 320x240 pixels and the screens are getting bigger. Carriers are beginning to offer better data plans. At least one carrier has brought the infamous walled garden down.
I am somewhat agnostic about the actual technology that will deliver a superior user experience. Rumour has it that the iPod will get a much larger screen and be connected to the cellular network. On the other hand, the iPod may have taught a generation of people how to load up their portable media devices with "free" content through a cable tethered to their Internet computer. Wi-Fi enabled devices might make instantly accessing content easier and better than downloading through a capable. I really don't care.
What I care about is the content. And I think the content is going to be shaped by why and where it is played and by whom. That will be the real evolution of so-called viral video.
The reason I believe mobile video is inevitable is because I believe people are going to share content in social places, like restaurants and around the office cooler. At first it will be the same kind of content that people are already storing on their phone: their favourite songs, pictures and video clips. A short assembled video of their wedding. And a clip from their favourite movie or TV show. In other words I think mobile video will first develop as social media.
I made this part of my pitch for Mobile Muse funding. I noted the phenomenon on the Internet of user created content. If you think back to a year ago, ask yourself if YouTube ever came up in conversation. Now it has become ubiquitous. YouTube is viral video. And the folks at Google believed in them enough to buy them for about three and one-half billion.
Viral video is not a short funny video clip. It is millions of people communicating with each other through video. The rating system, commenting feature and other social aspects of YouTube make it social media. Is it time to drop the "viral video" moniker?
Now I am not saying that I was right about the future of mobile video as short format social media. After all, YouTube plays on the computer, not the phone. But the idea that people will be able to put short format video content in their pocket or download it over the airis exciting. This instant accessibility anywhere is what makes the future of mobile video interesting.
People are not using their mobile phones for information. They use the Internet for that. They use their phones for social activities, like sharing a favorite video or song, or showing the video they assembled from clips taken at wedding in Mexico. Why is the cell phone not an information medium? For the same reason why the pundits thought TV on the phone would fail. The mobile screen is too small to act as an information terminal.
So although I am agnostic about the particular technology that will evolve around social media (cum viral video), I think I can say in general that the Internet will continue to be used by people for gathering information and shopping, not entertainment, while mobile devices will continue to be used by people for social reasons and entertainment and not information. Okay that is extreme. In all probability things will evolve somewhere between those two extremes. People will use the phone when they get stuck and need information and will use the Internet for infotainment (remember that hyped word?).
In any event, my focus all along has been on mobile screens and devices as the context for new types of entertainment and social engagement. The question about how the medium will develop is important, but ultimately video is a linear medium passively viewed. It will not matter what the delivery mechanism will be, just how it is used. The question about how a connected device will be used in social environments will impact on the design of a video is something I'll explore in the next blog.
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