MOBILE Is that the Internet in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?

Sheila ScarboroughTourism Currents

Are you ready for visitors to all have the web in their purse or pocket?

Why is this a big deal?

Yeah, yeah, they've been saying that mobile is coming for YEARS.

Because a bunch of people are getting a lot of smartphones very quickly

Here's why the Year of Mobile is really here.

95.8 million

Smartphones + wireless PDAs in the US as of June 2011

(A 57% increase from June 2010)

Source: CTIA semi-annual survey Oct 2011

It's not just the numbers, it's the percentage increase.

Whoa. Crazy.

Biggest smartphone age group: 25 34

Age group with most growth in smartphone ownership: 55 65+

Source: comScore Data Mine Sept 2011

Note mobile is NOT just a young person's thing.

Social networks and blogs

the #1 place Americans spend their time online(.then online games, then email)

Source: Nielsen Social Media Report Q3 2011

Social media finally overtook porn. :)

Facebook The top mobile social network

Source: Nielsen Social Media Report Q3 2011

No getting around it....

The pace and force of mobile growth is unlike anything I've ever seen .... Real-time social features are accelerating mobile usage.

Analyst Mary Meeker at Think Mobile, Feb 2011

Source: Mobile Marketer Feb 2011

She's been around a long time, and this is blowing her socks off.

Don't get caughtwith your pants down!

If you fiddled around about the web being for real, you do NOT have time to make that mistake with mobile.

Mobile changes travel

It's a mindset.

The Magic Lantern

References Becky McCray's blog post about her first long road trip with a smartphone: http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/2011/06/how-i-found-hotels-and-restaurants-on.html

How I found a good meal in San Francisco entirely on my phone. This is my meal on Foodspotting.

Content goes everywhere from a phone. Here's my TwitPic of the same meal.

Here's the blog post I wrote about it later (ok, not written from my phone, but still....)

Different meal Carriage House Crossing in Yoder, Kansas but illustrative of sending content to Facebook from my phone.

What a Foodspotting search in Lehigh Valley turned up, from my phone in my hotel room.

Here's what my Lehigh Valley where-to-eat search looks like on my phone when I check Yelp, my other smartphone resource when I travel.

I loved this invitation to send in TripAdvisor reviews, so I took a pic and sent it to the Tourism Currents Facebook Page from my phone. The display was on a table next to the elevator in my hotel; I hadn't even gotten to my room yet.

The key: immediacy

Also consider....

QR codesAndLocation-Based Services(Foursquare, Gowalla)

Other things you can do with a phone.

Action:

How to mobile-ize your mindset FAST

Basic steps to get your head in the game.

1) Get a smartphone.Now. Everyone who can.

You really won't get it until you use it yourself. This includes making the boss use it (for more than just email.)

2) Take a "Mobile Visitor" journey with multiple phones and an iPad

Drive into your town with some CVB/DMO staff, each with a different device, find a place to park in your downtown, and each of you do these things on your mobiles....

On the journey, Google this:

"Hotels in __________"

Behold, the wonders of local search on a mobile browser. Are you surprised by what you see?

Do a Yelp search for

a) Restaurants

b) Coffee shops (with WiFi)

Travelers want to eat, and many of them want a place to work, with WiFi. Search for this yourself, like a visitor. What comes up? Surprised?

Google this:

"Things to do with kids in ______________"

Imagine doing it with a carful of tired, itchy kids. Parents need good info right NOW.

3) Snap an interesting photo on your phone and upload it, with a caption, to your organization's Facebook Page.

Give everyone on staff Admin access to your Facebook Page, and train everyone. That way, anyone can shoot pictures up to your Page (and photos get a lot more interaction than text) plus you can do them on weekends with little effort. Spread the publishing joy!

Bonus:

Have Twitter handle DM's and "@" sent to 2 phones of people who can respond to queries

KNOW when people are talking to you! And answer in a timely fashion. Use your phone to tell you when someone's talking about you. Sorry, this isn't a M-F, 9-5 gig.

Access to tons of info, plus all of your networks and friends. Whoa.

This is Becky McCray's nephew and our mutual friend Deb Brown, using a mobile device to plan their NYC trip....while sitting in an NYC restaurant.

Photo Credits

Mae West, WC Fields (Universal Pictures)

Women with iPhones (StephenMitchell Flickr)

Pants down (eBomb716 Flickr)

Flying car c 1940 (State Library & Archives of Florida Flickr Commons)

Magic lantern pink (geoftheref Flickr)

Mobile travel in NYC (bjmccray Flickr)

Titles go to original photo.

Thanks very much!

Sheila Scarborough

Co-founder,Tourism Currents www.tourismcurrents.com

@SheilaS