Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Massmediatizing Mobile Phones:
Content Development, Professional
Convergence and Consumption
Practices1
Juan Miguel Aguado Inmaculada J. Martínez
Departamento de Información y Documentación
Facultad de Comunicación y Documentación
Universidad de Murcia
Campus de Espinardo s/n
30100 Espinardo - Murcia
España
[email protected] [email protected]
Tel. 0034 968 398781 Tel. 0034 968 363850
Fax. 0034 968 367141
1 This study is partially based on a research paper presented by the authors at the 2007 Mobile Media Conference
organized by the University of Sydney, Australia (July 2-4).
2
Abstract
Mobile telephones serve simultaneously as digital metadevices, identity-related
cultural objects and media for production, distribution and consumption of cultural content.
Involvement of cultural industries in mobile phone characterization has altered classic
media practices and provided a venue for their convergence with new ones. This process,
known as mediatization, concerns not only content distribution but also transformation of
media routines and strategies, the emergence of a new language and content formats and
the merging of personal and industrial cultural content in certain social and consumption
practices.
This study examines three consequences of mobile phone mediatization:
Transformation of standard media routines and products, the emerging content catalogue
and users’ perceptions of mobile media capabilities and content. The conceptual system
proposed addresses two phenomena: Intersection between the public and private spheres
and transition from social interaction to cultural consumption, overlapping identity
management and mass media consumption practices.
Keywords
Mobile media, mass media professional routines, mobile content categories, mobile media
content formats, perceived values, cultural consumption.
3
Mobile Phone Mediatization
In its technological transformation into a pocket computing device, the mobile
telephone is rapidly becoming a cultural consumption medium with promising horizons.
The mobile phone is simultaneously a digital metadevice (camera, organizer, pay card, TV,
MP3 player, game console, etc.), an identity-related cultural object (linked with its owner’s
body and personality) and a medium for producing, distributing and consuming cultural
content (Fortunati, 2005; Aguado & Martinez, 2006).
The increasing computing capacities of mobile phones and their ubiquity and
always-on connectivity have attracted the attention of mass media companies (WAN,
2004), who perceive mobile devices not only as a technological platform for traditional
content but also as a new consumption environment for commercialization of various
products and services. At the same time, the involvement of cultural industries in
characterization of the mobile phone as a cultural consumption medium is engendering
equally palpable changes in classic media practices (journalism, marketing and
entertainment), placing mobile communications in a privileged position regarding digital
convergence of classic and new media practices, the latter including blogging, podcasting,
viral messaging, net gaming, etc. (WAN, 2007). Broadcasting companies’ interest in
digital consumption practices increasingly involves cross-media and cross-content
strategies (Feldmann, 2005; DNX, 2007), offering sound opportunities for mobile
computing devices to develop into a cultural and technological crossroads for various
media applications, including self media (identity-attached media that allow for
autonomous content production and dissemination), conversational (social
interaction-addressed) media and classic (broadcast) media.
4
Mobile phone mediatization (Aguado and Martinez, 2006; 2007) thus refers not only
to simple mass media content distribution via mobile phones but also to the concurrent
transformation of media routines and strategies through mobile phone functionalities and
applications, the emergence of a new mobile-adapted language and media content formats
and the merging of personal and industrial cultural content in mobile-related social and
consumption practices. In this study, the term “mobile media” refers implicitly to the
principal cell phone usage characteristics applied to media consumption: Ubiquity,
always-on connectivity, on-demand accessibility and high context/user-dependent
functionality and adaptability of content and consumption practices, the last constituting its
most outstanding feature.
This study examines three areas in which the implications of mobile phone
mediatization are evident (professional routines, content formats and user perceptions),
seeking to establish conceptual bases for analysis of the increasing relevance of mobile
communications in the new media landscape. The conceptual definitions proposed were
derived from two sources: (1) The deliberations of an expert panel comprising eight
Spanish business persons and policymakers experienced in mobile telephony and media,
namely cellular service providers (Movistar, Vodaphone and Orange), public
administrative bodies (the Spanish Telecommunication Market Commission (CMT)),
media groups (PRISA and Vocento) and content providers (GloboMedia,
Gestmusic-Endemol) and (2) a series of ten in-depth interviews with experienced users of
mobile media content and services within the relevant age range (16-36), conducted in
October-November 2006. Panel discussions aimed at identifying transformation trends in
product design, commercialization strategies and professional routines, while interviews
focused on value perception of the mobile phone as a cultural consumption medium and of
5
various types of mobile media content. The theoretical framework for generation of
conceptual structures involves mobile technology-related use revision, gratification theory
(Katz and Satomi, 2005; Leung and Wei, 2000) and domestication theory (Haddon, 2000)
as applied to cultural studies (Aguado and Martinez, 2007; Goggin, 2006). We thus seek to
shift focus from functional characterization of technology use and cultural content to social
and semantic implications in terms of values, emotions and cultural import.
The panel discussions and interviews were also processed with reference to an
exploratory account of the current supply of mobile media services and products in Spain,
providing a guiding typology of mobile media content. The relevant data constitute part of
a research project on the social impact of mobile telephony in Spain supported by the
Murcia Regional Agency of Science and Technology and the University of Murcia.
Although the quantity of in-depth interviews and expert panel deliberations is relatively
small, the results are qualitatively significant in addressing perceptions of the future for
users and producers alike. In the case of the expert panel, the incipient nature of mobile
content commercialization in Spain imposes necessary limits on the sample, whereas
interview data is to be complemented by the discussions of a larger series of age-based
focus groups conducted as part of the more comprehensive research project. Consequently,
as a structured set of perceptions of experts and users, the outcomes are of a deliberative
and open nature and lack the conclusive validity of results derived by other methodologies
or from larger samples. Nevertheless, because of the unfinished and uncertain nature of the
mediatization process itself, field knowledge and strategic conceptualization of involved
actors may provide some clarification in this otherwise nebulous area of research.
6
Production Processes
One important consequence of mobile phone mediatization is the recharacterization of
mobile devices not only as technological platforms for development of conventional media
strategies and content commercialization but also as factors inducing media ecosystem
changes that transcend business strategy and consumer behavior. Like other new digital
media, mobile media are transforming professional media routines and the very nature of
traditional sender/receiver relations. The increasing involvement of mobile
communications in all aspects of media production and reception processes, as well as
compliance with Internet standards, accord mobile phones a privileged position in digital
convergence. The media-related professional environments most affected by mobile phone
mediatization are advertising/marketing, journalism and entertainment content production
and commercialization. Moreover, the spheres of convergence in which mobile
communications impact is gaining relevance are those typically designated in discussions
of new media, i.e. synergic production, multi-platform dissemination and participative
audiences (Klinenberg, 2005; WAN, 2007; Domingo et al., 2007).
Constant availability and always-on connectivity, combined with multifunctionality,
computing capabilities and increasing bandwidth, render the mobile phone not only a
relevant device for cultural consumption but also a valuable professional tool in media
production processes. Mobile functionalities are becoming increasingly involved in content
production for conventional media such as television, the press, radio and online news
sites: Photos and videos produced by reporters and audiences, live voice connection
through mobile devices, TV contests involving mobile phone based geolocalization, TV
microseries and reality shows filmed with mobile phone video cameras, etc. The
instrumental impact of mobile devices is even more intensive for less conventional media:
7
Mobile phones are significantly empowering thin media practices such as blogging and
podcasting, adding ubiquity to the participative communication processes that characterize
Web 2.0.
Ubiquity is among the most compelling reasons for inclusion of mobile devices in
journalistic routines. In 2005, an agreement between Spanish Public Television (TVE) and
a specialized software firm made it possible to use mobile camera phones as recording and
transmission devices directly connected to a control set at the central studio. Use of mobile
phones as microphones and voice registering devices is widespread in radio reporting and
mobile devices such as PDAs and pocket PCs commonly serve as on-the-road emergency
editing tools in online journalism. Other indicators of qualitative transformations in
professional routines were noted by the expert panel, such as the increasingly frequent use
of camera phones by paparazzi or inclusion of SMS and MMS as standard formats in
institutional communication (as in Spanish Royal House communiqués, for example).
Journalism professionals perceive the impact of mobile media on newsmaking
standards as “the universalization of witnessing,” as expressed by one panel expert and
press group member. Professionals consider mobile media to be another step towards
digital obsolescence of sender/receiver differentiation. The term mobile journalism or cell
phone journalism is in fact reserved for the kind of citizen journalism (audience news
publishing) that developed through mobile media. Permanent availability, combined with
the capacity to record, edit and send text, audio and video content of sufficient quality,
render mobile phones a privileged channel for audience involvement in media content
production. The mobile phone footage of the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007 is one
recent example of such universalization of witnessing.
8
In this sense, mobile phone impact transcends simple audience participation and
emphasizes the concept of prosumers (consumers as producers) characteristic of digital
media. Beyond the journalistic moblogging sphere (in which relevant examples, such as
Cronicas Móviles, are emerging in a Spanish-speaking context), conventional media now
include a growing quantity of audience-generated content and contact information that
allows for the active involvement of audiences as news footage providers and enables the
media to optimize the added value effect of including audience-made items among their
standard products, thereby adapting their agendas to audience interests. For example, the
Spanish TVE2 News program includes a section called Open Camera, modeled on the
BBC 2005 initiative, in which news is produced by audiences (using mobile or amateur
video footage), who are provided with a tutorial and the URL of an upload-specific
website. The images and stories submitted by audiences may also serve as the basis for
professional coverage. Other examples are Yo periodista in the Spanish newspaper El Pais,
My Sun in the British Sun and Reuters’ You Witness.
New professional and institutional actors are emerging as a consequence of mobile
phone presence in the media ecosystem, including mobile media managers (online
platforms for coordination of value-added services and storage functions) and content
syndication (consultancy and management services for commercialization of user footage).
One example of the former is the eMocion website operated by the Spanish cellular service
provider Movistar, while illustrative examples of the latter include Scoopt (www.scoopt.com)
and Spy Media (www.spymedia.com).
In the entertainment sphere, mobile media’s principal impact remains the attribution of
added value to promotional products (premieres, trailers, demos and branded
9
personalization content), underscoring increasing exploitation of brand image-related
values (Feldmann, 2005). In Spain, as in other European countries, the potential of mobile
TV and video streaming as mobile media consumption standards is still awaiting better
technological conditions and implementation of a tariffication model that precludes user
mistrust of pricing. Nevertheless, two current characteristics of mobile media offer a
preview of important consequences in the entertainment content production sphere:
Ubiquitous consumption – emphasizing the nature of private nomadic leisure already
implemented by devices such as portable music players and game consoles – and
location-independent content consumption sharing capabilities, opening the way to
commercialization of entertainment content as “symbolic languages” attached to shared
experiences.
The features of mobile phones also render them especially attractive as marketing and
advertising tools. Physical attachment to one’s body and the attendant symbolic link to
lifestyle (Fortunati, 2005) engage a specific relation among device, consumption and
identity unique to mobile phones. The emotional implications of mobile phone identity
attachment form a valuable scenario for marketing planners. According to interviews,
however, this same intimate character also arises in users’ perception of mobile advertising
as an invasive communication practice. Experts have identified three strategies to remedy
this situation:
a) Using formats more closely resembling content than to classic commercial
messages, such as contests (e.g. the Nokia Cell Phone Journalism Prize to promote use of
N-series camera phones), user communities (such as the Nokia Club) and advergames (like
the 2005 Range Rover Tourer launched in the UK by Land Rover).
10
b) Proliferation of branded downloadable content, software applications and
connection services as a significant user cost reduction strategy, such as Nokia’s Life Blog
software, newspapers’ free SMS alerts or music hit premiere downloads provided by
mobile phone operators like Movistar. The American firm Mobileplay
(www.mobileplay.com), for example, operates as a pioneering advertising network that
provides free access to branded content from various content partners (news alerts, sports,
finance, weather forecast, astrology, games and software applications).
c) Designing hybrid content – half brand-designed and half user-edited – to involve
individuals and groups in audience review, tutorials and tip/FAQ communities.
Paradoxically, mobile phone ubiquity and adaptability to use context also position
such devices as commercial information tools. Interviewees valued on-the-spot access to
information about offers and promotions positively. The secure nature of mobile
messaging (a vast majority of received SMSs are read by their recipients) and the
possibility of attaching content delivery to concrete spaces or practices are also strategic
values for mobile marketing.
The relational nature of mobile media and their capacity to coordinate emotional
networks among anonymous users render them especially suitable for new media
marketing strategies, such as guerilla marketing and viral marketing. Another mobile
media marketing feature appreciated by experts is cross-media complementarity
(especially Internet and TV, as in the case of the Coca-Cola Movement Campaign in
2004). Mobile media capacity to combine real and virtual space has also been designated a
relevant innovation trend expected to develop in the near future.
11
Towards New Content Formats and Narrative Standards
Mobile media content is subject to technological conditions (broadcasting
technologies and device functionalities), business models (pull or push content delivery
adoption), conventional media standards (periodical vs. non-periodical content) and related
social habits (available time for content usage and social interactions involved). Experts
participating in panel discussions displayed broad consensus regarding general
characteristics defining mobile media content:
a) Significant prevalence of visual aspects: Although voice is the original
communication format of mobile phones, it is still undervalued in the context of mobile
media content. Mobile media are image-oriented visual media (notwithstanding the
relevance of written visual codes, as in SMS). Even mobile radio uses related images as a
value-added element (as in the Visual Radio launched in 2006 by the well known Spanish
music radio channel 40 Principales). Efforts at exploring voice content possibilities
include the on-demand voice reports offered by the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant since
2006 as an extension to its SMS news service.
b) Time minimization: The “think small” motto for mobile phone design is especially
relevant in the case of mobile media content duration. The first entertainment series
designed for mobile phones in 2005 (Love and Hate and 24: Conspiracy by Fox and
Supervillanos by Globomedia (Spain)) is have episodes of 1-3 minutes’ duration. As an
indicator of product differentiation, Fox coined and registered the term mobisode to denote
the time specificity of short mobile-adapted serial fragments. Advertising MMS and videos
tend to last no more than 10 to 15 seconds (half a standard TV ad). MP3 player influence,
technical capabilities and consumption context give rise to slightly different circumstances
in the case of audio content, exhibiting time patterns similar to those of other audio-based
12
cultural consumption items. In any case, mobile phone mediatization demands
compression of Internet techniques as well as prevailing TV narrative time standards, as
hypertext navigation does not command the same attention on mobile screens as it does on
PC monitors.
c) Fragmentation and restricted serialization: Fragmentation and serialization are
common strategies for facilitation of TV narrative standard adaptation to mobile media.
Panel participants involved in entertainment product development agreed that narrative
sequences among fragments and the compulsion to maximize the number of episodes in
each serial are not easily exportable to a mobile media environment. Maintenance of
continuity among extremely short narrative units renders it difficult to sustain a classic
narrative line (character and event development) and tends to impose a gag-linking
technique that has more to do with accumulation of micronarratives than with
fragmentation of a coherent narrative macrosequence. Furthermore, mobile media
consumption habits hinder development of serialization as a content delivery pattern: A
mobile series cannot last as long (i.e. have as many episodes) as those in other media and
depends more directly on actual user demand.
d) Visual simplicity: Another implication of the minimization logic characterizing
symbolic mobile media resources concerns visual narrative standards. The use of images to
compose meaningful sequences in small portable devices like mobile phones or pocket PCs
cannot be the same as in other media. Series and video clips specifically designed for
mobile phones almost invariably display a preponderance of closeups and light image
compositions, altering conventional film and video image narrative use accordingly.
e) User involvement: Participants involved in product design claimed that mobile
media’s capacity for user involvement may compensate for visual narrative limitations.
13
The interactivity and user participation characteristic of all digital media are of particular
significance in mobile media because of their powerful association with user identity and
privacy.
Narrative limitations and technical and consumption ritual features demand
development of mobile media-specific meaning patterns and content formats, such as
geolocalization-based mobile games (cf. Licoppe, 2006 or De Souza, 2006) or
location-aware mobile content for product commercialization and museum and library
guidance systems, such as the one installed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
(Samis and Pau, 2006). As such development is accomplished, mobile devices fulfill the
role of cooperative meaning production in the media ecosystem – a part they already play
to a substantial extent in cross-media and cross-content strategies, as well as in support and
completion of media narratives and consumption networks. In this sense, mobile media
still exhibit a certain dependence on other media standards that also constitutes a
characteristic relevant to content category development. Figure 1 presents a tentative
catalogue of mobile media content, summarizing an exploratory inventory of the current
supply offered by the mobile phone-related market in Spain (November 2006) and
including conventional media, cultural industries and mobile phone economy actors
(manufacturers, software brands, operators and content producers). This catalogue has
served as a category filter for both panel discussions and interviews. In the latter in
particular, preferences for given types of content were associated with concrete perceptions
of mobile phone as media.
Because of the complementary nature of mobile media with regard to other media
content, the observable structure of mobile media content supply reproduces the classic
functional distinction among journalism, entertainment and marketing/advertising,
14
• SMS News alerts
• SMS / MMS Headlines
• Photo news
• SMS polls / voting
• Chats
• Timetables
• Weather and traffic reports
• Culture (movies, theaters ...)
• Sports scores
• Newspaper archives
JOURNALISM
INFORMATION SEARCH
• Voice news reports
• Live/downloaded video news
• Database query
• Games
• File sharing
• Personalization content
(Ringtones, logos ...)
• Mobile TV programs and series
• Information management software applications
ENTERTAINMENT
• Movie / music premieres
• User-produced content
• Video and audio streaming / downloading
• Content / celebrity-related communities
• Visual radio
• Location-aware content (news, info, games, advertising ...
• Internet access
MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
• SMS / MMS ads
• Branded content
• Branded applications
• Participatory branded content (contests ...)
including an additional category related to the Internet and self media capacities of mobile
devices. The total supply considered for classification of mobile media content comprises
voice content, data connection (downloads, streaming, transmission) and technical device
capacities (storage, bandwidth, audio and video player, camera, etc.). Intersections among
categories (i.e. content operative in two or more distinct categories) are especially valued
by experts as part of cross-content and cross-media strategies. The figure presents the four
main categories as intersected areas comprising polyvalent types of content.
Figure 1: Mobile Media Content Fields and Formats
15
3.1. Journalism
Content related to public information and news reporting, frequently involving
newspapers and radio and TV news programs as the branded images of news services or
products and delivered in one of two modes (Feldmann, 2005):
a) Push (based on ubiquity and always-on connectivity): Independent news services
(news alerts, daily headlines), ex ante dependent content (breaking news completed in
the newspaper or developed in radio and TV reports) and branded content to promote a
given medium or program (sponsored daily headlines).
b) Pull (based on on-demand connectivity and adaptability to context): Content
related to public information searches, such as weather or traffic reports, financial
reports, film and book reviews, theaters and leisure events, newspaper archives, etc.
Journalistic mobile content include SMS and MMS headlines, news alerts and
photo news, voice news reports, downloadable audio and video clips (mobile
podcasting) with repurposed news footage adapted from other media (TV, radio,
Internet) and direct mobile TV and radio news programs. Some types of SMS
comments and polls may be considered as journalistic mobile content dependent on
other media practices.
3.2. Information search
Pull-type content and services related to mobile device information management
and Internet connection capacities, including on-demand journalistic information
(weather/traffic reports, culture, etc.), transportation timetables (trains, buses…),
specific database queries, personal information management applications and file
16
sharing applications and services, as well as file editing and content management in thin
media and nanopublishing. Delimitation of content in this category is especially
complicated because its boundaries may overlap those of journalism and marketing and
because of its high reliance on Internet access. Information based on GPS applications
(such as on-the-spot traffic information) developed in mobile phones may be included
in this category as well.
3.3. Entertainment
Content and services concerning leisure activities, divided into four subcategories
according to source of leisure value:
a) Interactive: Device-user interaction, as in mobile games and puzzles.
b) Participatory: Conversational dynamics and user involvement beyond the device
itself, as in SMS voting, comments and surveys or file sharing.
c) Personalization: Linking device software or interface appearance to personal
identity, symbolic aesthetics and identity presentation, as in the case of ringtones, logos,
wallpaper, music on hold, icons, etc.
d) Passive Consumption: Narrative and aesthetic contemplation demanding passive
user attitudes similar to those applicable in consumption of conventional media.
Standard repurposed content includes music and video clips, mobile TV series, etc.
As most content in this category is accessed through pay-per-download, push/pull
content differentiation is not particularly relevant. Tariffication policies are not the only
reason for the prevalence of pull-type entertainment content, however; mobile device
17
ubiquity and context adaptability, as well as the dominance of on-demand content
consumption, are also factors to be considered.
3.4. Marketing and advertising
Content related to commercial and branding initiatives, delivered in either of the
two modes applicable to the journalism category:
a) Push: Mobile repurposed advertising (SMS or MMS ads, location-aware
commercial information, etc.) and participatory marketing initiatives (contests,
promotions, etc.).
b) Pull: On-demand branded content promoting products or services (advergames,
thematic trivia quizzes, branded personalization content, etc.) and especially mobile
media-related branding (news services, software and hardware products, information
services, etc.). Branded customer-oriented communities related to a given product (film
premieres), mythic brand names (Ferrari, Barbie, Disney) or celebrities may also be
included in this subcategory.
In general terms, the preferences of interviewed users were clearly oriented towards
sharing and participation reinforcement. Mobile media content that enhances participation
in conventional (opinion, voting) and non-conventional media (sharing user-generated and
branded content with others) were especially appreciated by younger informants, although
cost handicaps were mentioned repeatedly as a relevant dissuading factor, pointing to the
need for innovation in pricing policies and tariffication models.
Journalism content was appreciated as a reference to other news content (essentially
news alerts) rather than as an independent news broadcasting channel. Interest in mobile
18
TV was significantly low among experienced mobile media users. Mobile videogames
were the most valued entertainment related content, especially among male informants,
followed by sponsored or licensed content related to personalization (logos, ringtones,
wallpaper) and film premieres among younger participants. According to interviews,
mobile games should be user-friendly, addictive and functional during brief, unscheduled
time periods. Users do not display any special concern for game planning as a leisure
activity, as in the case of Internet or console games, nor were prices considered a relevant
handicap for games and personalization content.
The lack of previous planning in mobile media consumption emerges as a significant
variable regarding mobile broadcasting and poses serious difficulties for push-type content
delivery models. On the other hand, permanent availability and adaptation to user
contingencies (social situation, time, place…) were unanimously considered to be positive
values of mobile media consumption. This perception of mobile media conforms with the
experts’ consensus on the prevalence of pull-type product line development, associating
conventional broadcasting formats with service packs similar to DTTV.
Users’ attitudes towards information search content display clear differentiation
between concrete information services (timetables, weather, sport results…) and Internet
access. Except for news alerts and breaking headlines, information services are not
especially appreciated, whereas Internet access and Internet-related applications are
considered useful and desirable, even if handicapped by insufficient data flow speed and
website adaptation to mobile device conditions.
The problems encountered in finding a specific format for advertising content in
mobile media were mentioned in panel discussions and also arise in interviews with users.
19
While context-aware commercial information is appreciated, mobile advertising is
generally perceived as a kind of commercial invasion of privacy. Consequently, pull-type
distribution appears to be an almost necessary precondition. Paradoxically, such a measure
would favor branding strategies rather than product information strategies promoting the
hybridization of advertising and entertainment formats (advertainment) in mobile
marketing communication.
Towards a Cultural Characterization of the Mobile Medium
According to interviewed users, the preferred mobile media consumption contexts are
waiting times, transport lapses and concrete information demand (cf. Lasen, 2002),
ostensibly placing such media in the same category as other nomadic privacy leisure
devices, such as iPods or game consoles. Mobile media may indeed be perceived as
“portable places of intimacy” (Rheingold, 2002), but they are essentially conceived as
relationship technologies and as such involve other consumption modes besides nomadic
privacy.
Paraphrasing Rheingold’s famous concept, mobile media are also portable places of
sociability for users. Mobile sociability concerns not only conversational functions but also
content: Users appreciate sharing content and experiences as significant values of mobile
media. This perception constitutes an excellent argument for manufacturers and operators
to link the conversational value of mobile telephony with its new content management
capacities. In 2006, advertising campaigns by Nokia (N-Series), Vodaphone and Movistar,
for example, placed emphasis on the value of immediate sharing of user-generated content.
Technological developments in device functionalities and applications, as well as social
20
trends in camera phone usage, converge in empowering the sharing nature of mobile phone
cultural consumption (Aguado and Martinez, 2007).
It is true that this sharing-oriented nature is common to other media (whether
conventional or not) in that they produce meaning communities that contribute decisively
to socialization processes, for example. However, traditional media content sharing is
based primarily on vicarious reproduction of effects (e.g. adolescents recalling the
emotions evoked by an action film scene) or deferred content sharing (e.g. displaying
photos, offering copies of music hits or favorite films). Users consider the ubiquity and
simultaneity of sharing aesthetic or narrative emotions (e.g. a music hit, amusing video
clip, etc.) to be a specific value of mobile media. Younger ones claim that the sharing-
related value is the principal reason for certain uses of mobile media: Picture, sound clip
and video clip downloading or recording practices are directly influenced by their
relevance in group display. In this context, especially among younger informants, mobile
media are valued as virtually essential tools for socialization.
This sharing nature of mobile media consumption also affects personalizable content
(ringtones, wallpapers, icons, music on hold …). In this respect, the mix of branded and
user-generated content (through personalization options or the addition of personal
comments, evaluations or recommendations to branded content) constitutes a relevant field
for development of new mobile-community-adapted content (Feldmann, 2005), as in the
cautious efforts now underway in Spain.
The characterizations of mobile media provided by experts and users also serve as the
basis for the drafting of a conceptual network (Figure 2) that offers a graphic display of the
perceived values of mobile media and their position with regard to functional focus on
21
self-publishing and user adaptation (self media), person to person interactions
(conversational media) and cultural consumption (mass media). Assuming the hybrid
nature of mobile phones as a meeting point of public and private communication practices
(Fortunati and Pozzobon, 2006; Aguado and Martinez, 2006), one relevant feature of this
conceptual map is the placement of valued characteristics in public/private mobile media
use contexts.
The key characteristics determining mobile device transition into media are ubiquity
(always-on connectivity and to time/place-independent communications), adaptability
(on-demand connectivity and to context and user-aware products or services) and
multifunctionality (functional integration of other media and content formats).
22
PERSONAL BIOGRAPHIC
REGISTER
CONTEXT
DEPENDENCE
SAFETY
Private content mediatization
UBIQUITY IN CONTENT
CONSUMPTION
IDENTITY PRESENTATION
USER/BRAND INTEGRATION IN
CONTENT PRODUCTION
BODY EXTENSION
PEER GROUP INTEGRATION
SOCIAL ROLE COORDINATION
DECISIONAL COORDINATION
MULTIFUNCTIONALITY
UBIQUITY (always-on connectivity)
ADAPTABILITY (on-demand connectivity)
Device mediated socialization (technology appropriation)
CONTENT SHARING
PERSONALIZATION OF ÆSTHETIC
PATTERNS
MOBILE LIFESTYLE
AFFECTIVE LINKS
PROMOTION
USER PRODUCED CONTENT
EDITING AND MANAGEMENT
Mass media content appropriation
NOMADIC PRIVACY
UBIQUITOUS REGISTER OF
EVENTS
EMOTIONAL INVOLVEMENT
FASHION
CONSTANT ACCESS TO
PUBLIC INFORMATION
PERSONAL ACCESSIBILITY
PERSONALIZATION OF ACCESS AND
CONTENT
PARTICIPATION
+ PRIVATE
+ PUBLIC
CONTENT SHARING
INDEPENDENT CHANNEL OF
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
PARTICIPATION
COORDINATION WITH OTHER
MEDIA
Figure 2: Positional Conceptual Network of Mobile Phone
Characteristics Appreciated by Users and Experts
SELF MEDIA CONVERSATIONAL
MEDIA
MASS MEDIA
23
Features clearly identified with classic mobile phone use configure mobile media as
conversational media and affect socialization practices (identity presentation, peer group
integration, affective link promotion, personal accessibility control, etc.) accordingly.
Those that relate to user capacity to produce media content and adapt device usage and
content to user situations characterize mobile media as self media. In this respect, mobile
media’s capacity for personalization exceeds the adaptive capacities of other digital media.
Ubiquity and the ability to record exceptional or unexpected events in everyday life
constitute specific values of mobile media in this sense. Experts and users agree that the
sharing nature of mobile media content and applications provides a meeting point for
mobile devices as self media (allowing for expression of one’s identity through media
formats) and conversational media (underpinning content exchange and content display
social rituals as part of communication and socialization practices). This confluence may
be understood as a process of technology appropriation related to device-mediated
socialization practices. Personalization (customization) and aesthetics as a means of
symbolic exchange play an important role in configuring so-called mobile lifestyles.
The convergence of self media and mass media characteristics is marked by the
relevance accorded to participation and the possibility of creating channels of
communication and information that are independent of media groups and political or
economic pressure. Participation constitutes a valued attribute of mobile media regarding
both confluence of self and mass media characteristics and convergence between
conversational and mass media features, as illustrated by two parallel processes:
(a) Inclusion of user produced content in mobile media multicasting circuits points to a
progressive mass mediatization of private content and privacy-related communication
practices. The hybrid nature of mobile media (as broadcasting devices delivering
24
standardized content and identity-attached technologies) plays a decisive role in such
contexts. (b) Inclusion of mass media-standardized content in social contexts of
interpersonal communication exchanges (as in branded or licensed personalization content
such as ringtones or wallpaper) constitutes the principal context through which mobile
media contribute to appropriation of mass media content. Finally, characterization of
mobile media as mass media underscores ubiquity, context awareness and coordination
with other media, as well as the possibility of integrating branded and user-generated
content through participation.
Mobile media display an overtly dependent nature with regard to other media in at
least in three respects: Business models, content design and consumption patterns.
Nevertheless, specific mobility-related values, namely multifunctionality, ubiquity and
adaptability, render them a crucial meeting point at which the characteristics of self media,
conversational media and mass media overlap. Mobile media are not perceived as
constituting a distinct and specific powerful medium and are largely associated with
mobile telephony alone. By contrast, they are known to combine with and improve
potential characteristics of other media and media practices in an extraordinary manner. In
this sense, hybridization of the private and identity-attached nature of the mobile phone
and the standardizing massive bias of classic mass media, coupled with a subsequent
capacity to expand cultural consumption modes and contexts, accord mobile media a
privileged place within the emerging media ecosystem.
25
References
Aguado, J. M. and Martínez, I. J. (2006) ‘La mediatización de la telefonía móvil: de la
interacción al consumo cultural’, in ZER, Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, vol.
11/ Nr. 20, Universidad del País Vasco, pp. 319-343.
Aguado, J. M. and Martínez, I. J. (2007) ‘The Construction of the Mobile Experience: The
Role of Advertising Campaigns in the Domestication of Mobile Phone Technologies’,
Continuum. Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 21(2). Routledge, pp. 137-149.
De Souza, A. (2006) ‘Do ciber ao híbrido: Tecnologias móveis como interfaces de espaços
híbridos’, in De Souza, A. (ed.) Imagem (IR) Realidade. Porto Alegre: Editora Sulina,
pp. 21-51.
DNX Report (2007): Mobile TV: Tendencias en España. Research report available at
http://www.dnxgroup.com/ideas/index_dnxTrends.html.
Domingo, D. et al. (2007) ‘Four Dimensions of Journalistic Convergence: A Preliminary
Approach to Current Media Trends in Spain’, research paper presented at the
International Symposium on Online Journalism, University of Austin, Texas, March
30-31.
Feldmann, V. (2005) Leveraging Mobile Media. Cross-Media Strategy and Innovation
Policy for Mobile Media Communication. Heidelberg–New York, Physica Verlag.
Fortunati, L. (2005) ‘Mobile Telephone and the Presentation of Self’, in Richard Ling and
Per E. Pedersen (eds) Mobile Communications. Re-negotiation of the Social Sphere,
London: Springer, pp. 203-218.
Fortunati, L. and Pozzobon, F. (2006) ‘Media Mobiles: When Interpersonal Media become
Mass Media’, paper presented at 2006 ICA Pre-Conference ‘After the Mobile
Phone?’, June 16-18, 2006, University of Erfurt, Germany.
26
Goggin, G. (2006) Cell Phone Culture. London: Routledge.
Haddon, L. (2000) ‘Domestication and Mobile Phone Telephony’, paper presented at the
conference ‘Machines that Become Us’, Rutgers University, New Jersey, 2001.
Katz, J. E. and Satomi S. (2005) ‘Mobile Phones as Fashion Statements: The Co-Creation
of Mobile Communication’s Public Meaning.’ in Rich Ling and Per Pedersen (eds)
Mobile Communications: Re-Negotiation of the Social Sphere. Surrey, UK: Springer,
pp. 63-81
Klinenberg, E. (2005) ‘Convergence: News production in a digital age’. Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 597(1), 48-64.
Krentzschmar, S. (2006) ‘Journalistic Content and the Football World Championship 2006:
Multimedia Services on Mobile Devices’, paper presented at 2006 ICA
Pre-Conference ‘After the Mobile Phone?’, June 16-18, 2006, University of Erfurt,
Germany.
Leung, W. and Wei, R. (2000) ‘More Than Just Talk on the Move: Uses and Gratifications
of the Cellular Phone’. Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(2), 308-320.
Lasen, A. (2002): ‘A Comparative Study of Mobile Phone Use in London, Madrid and
Paris’. Digital World Research Centre. University of Surrey.
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc/Publications/CompStudy-pdf.
Licoppe, C. (2006) ‘Living in a Location-Aware Community in an Augmented Public
Space: The Uses of a Geolocalized Mobile Multiplayer Game in Japan’, paper
presented at 2006 ICA Pre-Conference ‘After the Mobile Phone?’, June 16-18, 2006,
University of Erfurt, Germany.
27
Oskman, V. (2006) ‘Second generation mobile media and newspapers’. Research
Development Centre. University of Tampere.
http://www.uta.fi/jourtutkimus/mobiili/tiivis.htm.
Rheingold, H. (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge: Perseus.
Rümmler, R., Yun Won Chung and Hamid A. (2005) ‘Modeling and analysis of an
efficient multicast mechanism for UMTS’, in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular
Technology, vol. 54, no. 1 , IEEE, New York, pp. 350-365.
Samis, P. and Pau, S. (2006) ‘Art Casting at SFOMA: First Year Lessons, Future
Challenges for Museum Podcasters’ Broad Audience of Use’, paper presented at
Museums and the Web, The International Conference for Culture and Heritage on
Line, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Spurgeon, C. and Goggin, G. (2006) ‘Mobiles into Media: Premium Rate SMS and the
Adaptation of Television to Cultures of Interactivity’, paper presented at 2006 ICA
Pre-Conference ‘After the Mobile Phone?’, June 16-18, 2006, University of Erfurt,
Germany.
WAN (World Association of Newspapers) (2004) Shaping the Future of the Newspaper:
The Mobile Opportunity.
WAN (2007) World Digital Media Trends.
