The Rise of Mobile

Personal computing, the internet and telecommunications have made such significant advancements over the past 25 years that we can now hold a device in one hand that’s capable of making phone calls, sending text messages, taking and viewing pictures and video (HD video that is), browsing the internet, sending email, playing games (any Angry Birds fans out there?), and loading a variety of applications. Oh, and you can perform multiple tasks at once. Crazy. iPhones, Thunderbolts, Blackberrys, etc are becoming commonplace in a lot of ways.

This phenomenon is not just occurring in the US – According to a report by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) mobile subscription growth was strong in developing countries (which have 3.8 billion subscriptions), from 53 per cent of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2005 to an estimated 73 per cent at the end of 2010. AMD is predicting that, by 2015, 50% of the world will have an Internet connection and Phone Countpredicts that by 2012 there will be as many connected mobile phones as there are people in the world.

Are you thinking about how this affects the non-profit space yet? In one particular niche fundraising space we’ve been looking to see how mobile is changing the game. For those of you who are familiar with event, team and/or peer-to-peer fundraising you can check out Making Participants and Donors Successful with Mobile Solutions to find out more. Make sure to subscribe to the newsletter to get future issues.

For those interested in some more insight into mobile … check out the below infographic(s). Once you’re done I’d love to hear from you. How are you planning to embrace mobile technology as part of your digital strategy? What have you already seen work? Or not work?

Size – “How big is the mobile world?”

Growth – “How fast is the mobile world growing?”

Usage – “How much time do people spend using mobile devices?”

A few additional interesting statistics:

• 19% of cellphone owners ages 18-29 said that they’ve donated via text message. [Pew Internet Report] [Chronicle of Philanthropy thoughts]
• 90% of 18-29 year olds own a cell phone, and these young cell owners are significantly more likely than those in other age groups to engage in all of the mobile data applications. [Pew Internet Report]
• More than half of cell phone internet users go online daily from their mobile device [Pew Internet Report]

Social – “How important is mobile to the social media world?”

Check out the the full infographic by Microsoft Tag

An additional interesting statistics:

• Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter now account for 22.7% of time spent on the web. Mobile devices play a big part in this. [Nielsen Study]

WHAT’S IT ALL POINTING TO?

“Mobile” is taking over the world (long pause). The consistent spread of mobile devices and rapid growth in mobile internet use should have you thinking long and hard about how your organization will adjust.

WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING NOW?

Are you asking yourself questions like “How are my donors using mobile devices?” or “Do my website visitors need mobile friendly pages served to them?” or “Do my volunteers need the ability to interact with our organization via their mobile phone?”. You get the point, right? If you’re not asking these questions I suggest you start now.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frank Barry

Frank Barry, director of digital marketing at Blackbaud and blogger at npENGAGE, helps nonprofits use the Internet for digital communication, social media, and fundraising so they can focus changing the world. He’s worked with a diverse group of organizations including LIVESTRONG, United Methodist Church, American Heart Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, ChildFund Int’l, InTouch Ministries, Heifer Int’l, University of Notre Dame and University of Richmond. Along with writing for industry publications like Mashable and Social Media Today, Frank facilitates discussions, presents solo sessions and organizes panels for industry conferences such as NTC, SXSW, BBCon and numerous others. When he’s out and about he enjoys talking to interesting people about how they are changing the world – check out his interviews. Say Hi on Twitter – @franswaa or Google+