Today’s guest post is from Doug Naegele, founder of TextandShout.com. An avid SmartBrief on Social Media reader and inveterate entrepreneur, Doug is attending Mobile Innovation Week. He wrote in late last night with this update from Day 1.
The intersection of wireless and social media is one of the hottest topics at Mobile Innovation Week. So far, panels have addressed how social media figures in:
- The innovation of new mobile technology.
- The future of traditional media.
- New application development.
- Gobbling up loads of network resources.
Consumers in the driver’s seat
Many at the conference have pointed to social media — and its consumer-centered leadership — as the primary driver of mobile innovation. “In the past, technology innovations were built for enterprises first, then reworked for consumers. Now it’s almost the opposite,” said Paul Brannan, general manager of Wireless Terminals for Samsung Canada.
Social media + traditional media = $?
During a discussion on the future of traditional media, one panelist suggested that the placement of user-generated content alongside traditional media, and the promotion of the two on social media outlets, could bring needed revenue to the traditional businesses. The jury’s still out on the specifics of such monetization, but conference attendees are buzzing about the possibilities.
Crowdsourcing, or not
A panel on design concluded that using crowdsourcing on the look and feel of Web apps and Web sites often ends up muddling the process and leads to compromised, and often poor, design.
Video killed the cellular star
One of the most pressing topics at Mobile Innovation Week is how mobile social media usage is hammering mobile networks and what can be done about it. Many agreed that social networking will usher in even more demand for video-on-mobile, and that may require carriers to rethink the current “all-you-can-eat” data plans. Some panelists predict carriers will have to abandon unlimited data plans, while others foresee a North American carrier price war in the not-too-distant future.
I’ll keep you posted if there’s any more juicy social media news out of the conference!
Do you have any questions you’d like Doug to ask or issues you’d like him to follow at Mobile Innovation Week? Just add them below and he’ll report back to us.