Smart Phones, Social Networking and Sales
It is not a rare thought or idea for an individual to consult with friends and peers before making a purchase. Even if it is a completely new product to try out or a recommended alternative to an existing favorite, retail purchases are heavily influenced by who and what we surround ourselves with.
Before, these immediate factors were people who lived together and people who worked or went to school together. Proximity was an important factor for word of mouth. Even in the early days of mobile phones, people still relied on direct, one-on-one conversations to get a recommendation through.
These days, you do not even have to be directly talking to a friend to influence their decisions for the coming weekend. Take movies for example, all it takes is a well timed Tweet or Facebook status update about how you felt about the latest blockbuster film that premiered this week and the information is automatically sent to everyone with live status updates –and chances are, that is a lot of people.
The retail industry and the world of market has been turned inside out by the emergence of social networking and smart phone technology. The two elements combined formed into a very powerful medium. After all, social networking may sound good and all, but if internet access was limited to desktop computers, it would not be as influential as it is today, where people can access online content anytime, anywhere.
Commercial research firm Gartner has finished a recent intensive study on the behavioral patterns of consumers, determining what factors will most likely influence a purchase. While friends and contacts were expected, the use of social networking is certainly something that changes the game for many marketers.
Of course, many had not missed out on the marketing capabilities of social networking and smart phone technology, a vast majority of commercial companies and brands are being advertised on Facebook and Twitter.
Vodafone UK Now Offering the Android Wildfire
It looks like we will not be running out of Android options for the coming months. Considering the current lineup of smart phones for manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and others, there are going to be plenty of Android devices coming out in the next few months and the HTC Wildfire is one such device.
Fortunately for this HTC made Android smart phone, it brings together a good mix of features and provides an excellent degree of social network integration that makes it stand out among the many other Android smart phones available on the market.
Outright, this smart phone was made for user who access social networking sites very often. The Wildfire was designed for major Twitter and Facebook users, which means that if you love checking the latest status updates and would punctuate every major decision with a Tweet, then this smart phone is a match for you.
The device not only makes accessing social network accounts easy, it also brings in Flicker, YouTube, Picasa and more. These web media sharing services are quite important since that allow users to easily upload and share media with friends a family –an important consideration for anyone who uses social networking heavily.
Aside from that, the device also comes with multimedia playback capabilities as well. The Wildfire’s media player can handle a wide range of music and video formats, and the built in camera can take high resolution images and video.
The device itself comes with a nice 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen display, a 5 mega pixel camera, a 528 MHz CPU and of course, Android 2.1 Éclair. So far, no word has been given as to when an update to version 2.2 Froyo will be available but with the HTC Desire getting a patch in the next few days; it would not be long before the Wildfire also gets an update as well.
How Powerful Should a Smart Phone Be?
Technology moves, and when it moves, it moves fast without waiting for anyone, not even our society. As our daily lives become more and more entrenched with the use of smart phone technology, WiFi, and 3G access, the more we leave ourselves chained and tethered to the limits and capabilities of the very handsets we use.
A person who does not check Facebook or send Tweets often will not be reliant on a smart phone with live updates or similar social networking tools. On the other hand, a person who has come to enjoy the benefits of being able to send new updates to friends and colleagues at almost any time will feel rather out of touch and disconnected when forced to use a basic 2G handset without WiFi access.
And that is just the start of it. Web browsing and internet access are now considered to be very basic features, and for many people, owning a social networking account or Twitter account is commonplace. They would actually raise an eyebrow when told that an individual does not have either (a reaction that was not so common when net access was restricted to desktop computers). While this reaction can still be shrugged off, it is a benchmark about what we consider accessible and doable for the average person.
When mobile phones start getting higher capacity batteries that are able to handle faster and stronger processors, the range of things that a person can do with a smart phone will also increase. Employers often expect their smart phone-bearing employees to be able to stay on top with email and basic documents since the device can handle the document processing. At this rate, the speed and power that we see in the desktop computers of today will soon be available on smart phones of the future.
How Much Data Do You Use?
O2 and Vodafone have both announced that they will be changing their data plans for consumers. While existing data plans will still retained, new subscribers will no longer have access to unlimited data bandwidths. According to the mobile networks, the reason for this is to help make the network more stable –and also to provide people with cheaper rates that are closer to their data usage patterns.
It is a pretty smart move, in terms of providing people with a cheaper alternative. After all, why would someone pay 30 Pounds each month when they can switch to a cheap 15 Pound data allowance rate that still fits to their usage patterns? At the same time, this new move will also be costly for users that choose to use their connection for heavy downloads.
O2’s own market reportedly shows that about 97% of their users only use less than 200MB of data each month –that is about 800MB of bandwidth paid but unused for anyone on a 1GB data allowance. Looking at it this way, it makes sense. For people who simply check the news, download the occasional streaming video, and most send Tweets or post on Facebook, this amount of data transfer is not so bad. But for those who consume more than 500MB of data per month, the new rates are going to give rise to killer bills.
Oddly enough, the main reason for this change in policy is due to the fact that some existing subscribers are making full use of their ‘unlimited data allowance’ by connecting their 3G SIM to a dongle for the computer and downloading to their hearts content.
In many ways, mobile internet is not taking the same patch that conventional broadband connections evolved. From dial up modems to high speed T1 connections, the growth of the 3G and other wireless networks is shaped by tariffs, data allowances, usage patterns and the fact that current networks are not capable of handling the current load.
Phones and Internet: Bridging the World in Times of Disaster
We all know the simple facts: Twitter, SMS and modern day methods of digital communication have helped greatly in speeding up the response of emergency groups during the earthquake in Haiti. Relief efforts were instantly organized and created within the span of a few minutes instead of hours. People instantly got in touch with persons with authority and power, which made bringing help where it was needed most possible.
Aside from natural disaster, blogs, SMS and even Twitter have played key roles in documenting and making the world aware of many a great crisis that has been happening all around us. Internet access have allowed people living the Afghan border to not only update the world on the state of things, but have also helped the people themselves in being aware of possible dangers –allowing them to evacuate ahead of schedule.
Back in 2007, the Kenyan elections were fraught with many unfortunate events. But thanks to the selfless efforts of Ory Okolloh and many other bloggers, they were able to establish Ushahidi, a simple website that keeps a map chart of major events and reports. The latest event to be covered by the site is the recent earthquake in Haiti –until now, Ushahidi is helping coordinate efforts for the devastated country.
Before, it was originally believed that mobs of people are difficult to control, and that en masse, humans tend to be uncoordinated and often fail to live up to their potential as a single working unit. Thanks to the presence of the internet however, communication is no longer limited to simply shouting out orders.
Details and instructions can now be relayed directly, providing each group of individuals with clear directions on what can be done to help. Thanks to technology, humanity has once again shown that it can surpass its limits.
Find out more about Ushahidi and relief efforts through SMS at the Guardian UK.
Twitter: Not the Best Way to Communicate
Well, at least not for major companies. The recent incident with Vodafone UK is but one of many other similar incidents where social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook were used by disgruntled, demented or otherwise childish, unsupervised employees who got a hold of the account.
A remark from an employee posted on the official Vodafone Twitter page raised alarm and suspicion that the company’s account may have been hacked –but not before the initial reactions at the statement. The original Tweet was a directed verbal insult to the gay community and to women. While the post was quickly deleted, many have already received the message.
Vodafone’s employees have been quick to assess the situation and deliver some timely responses that easily remedied the situation. The lack of media fallout regarding the event is a testament to the customer relations skills of the men and women behind Vodafone.
One major concern raised by the event was that Vodafone had been hacked. Vodafone’s representative quickly assured clients and the public that the company account has not been compromised in any way and they have the situation under control.
In the meanwhile, the culprit has been identified and the mobile network operator has suspended the said employee indefinitely. Investigations regarding the event are being held internally and it is unlikely that we will ever hear the final outcome of this event.
Vodafone users on the other hand have nothing to worry about. Aside from that little incident, the UK mobile operator is stronger than ever. The launch of the iPhone this January met with resounding success as the number if iPhone subscribers for the network are growing –thanks mostly to the quality of the 3G network service provided by Vodafone.
Read more about this topic at the Guardian UK.