Mobile blogging is the current trend from Europe to Asia! With camera/video phones becoming a permanent accessory in US phones (though it's been available in Asia for the past 6), real time multimedia blogging is here to stay. Case in point is this post, being written and submitted via my Treo 650.
Earlier today, on my Live Journal blog (for my family), I posted my son's birthday party pics & video clips. My family is scattered worlwide and we truly stay connected via our mobile phones.
In Asia, there is no excuse for not reaching anyone, because cell phone coverage there is ubiquitous. The cost of PC's is still very high for the working class and the electric grid so unreliable, that it's useless to invest in a desktop. Seeing a golden opportunity, Telco's capitalized on cell phone solutions, and used them to fill all their customers needs.
Today, in many countries around the world, the primary device for user connectivity is wireless internet connectivity - mainly through cell phones. The main reason has always been lack of a reliable infrastructure (for both land lines & electricity) and high cost of existing wired solutions.
In a report I read recently I learned there are over a trillion (yes, that's right) a trillion cell users in Asia w/online capability. That number is expected to double by 2010. Just to give you an idea of how advanced their mobile infrasturcture is, when I lived in the Philippines a 5 years ago, I was able to pay ALL my utilities via my cell. That's right: my elec, gas, tel, cell, pvt postal service, cable,...and even my rent (through a wireless bank transfer between accounts)!
In the last 3 months my most consistent medium for commuinication has been my cell. I'm currently not able to access close to half of my Bad Example Family from most, if not all, public internet places due to their content. As a result, I've been forced to either read them on my PDA or not read them at all.
A great example of this situation is my adoptive blog dad Harvey, of Bad Example. Due to content safe software and word filters the only place I can read him is at home. While my pc is being repaired I can't read him anywhere and so I tried on my pda. Unfortunately, I failed because his 3 column site is so complex & link rich, it's too large & slow to load. As a result, I've been forced to miss his naughty & very wity humor.
Europeans, following Asian bloggers, have streamlined their sites & made them multimedia friendly. Have you checked out Whimsy Capricious where you can post text messages directly onto her site. That feature is so commonplace in Asia, even online news sites have them in order to report up to the minute local events via a cell phone.
Even a newbie blogger can become an on-the-scene correspondent, by "mo-blogging" (using mobile phone/pda accessories). You might be at a trendy restaurant in LA, a protest march in New York City, or a three-day Phish concert in Seattle, almost instantly you can file a report or review in real-time and let the world know what's going on.
In fact, a number of UK bloggers & 2 American bloggers, who were in London at the time of the first bombing, scooped the BBC & CNN in reporting that these were terrorist attacks and posted accounts with pics, and footage of videos taken by cell phones, as the events occurred. Later in the day, the BBC bought rights to broadcast a number of these cell phone feeds to put them on the air and link to them online.
So in an effort to expand your audience and help you prepare for the inevitable & current revolution - that of mobile blogging and reading, I hope you will consider returning for Saturday's post: Easy Syndication for the Masses. Essentially it will be a how you can create a site environment & promote your site to capture the widest possible audience... IF that's your interest.
See you then!
Looking forward to it. I have family everywhere (including Japan) and would love to make it easier for them to read my blog.
Posted by: vw bug at August 12, 2005 07:22 AMCool! Can't wait.
Posted by: Ted at August 12, 2005 12:03 PMThis is not only cool, it's work safe for me to read. That black background got me busted on more than one occassion.
Posted by: Lisa at August 12, 2005 02:34 PM