Mobile is now the primary way that many consumers access the internet and content. If a website or content is not optimized for mobile devices, it will not be accessible to a large portion of the audience. Responsive design is key to ensuring content works across different mobile screen sizes. Publishers and journalists need to design content and experiences with mobile in mind from the start in order to effectively reach readers who primarily consume on their phones. Interactivity, usability and solving reader needs are important aspects of effective mobile strategies.

1. If it Doesn’t Work on Mobile, it
Doesn’t Work
CMJ 351 Multimedia Production
Thursday, Oct 3 2013
Damon Kiesow
@dkiesow

3. so, what do I do?
Senior Product Manager / Mobile
Boston Globe, Boston.com
Digital Media Fellow
Poynter.org
Managing Editor / Digital
The Nashua Telegraph
Principal Photo Editor
AOL News & Sports
Photojournalist
Nashua Telegraph, Laconia Citizen,
Associated Press, Biddeford Journal
Tribune, Bangor Daily News
Currently:
Previously:

4. for discussion
Mobile
Strategy
UX
Mobile

5. how big a deal is mobile?
Bigger than:
A. The invention of the printing press?
B. All broadcast media?
C. The creation of the Internet?
D. The discovery of fire?
E. Life as we know it?

6. Globally more people have access to a cell phone than
running water. (6 billion vs 4.5 billion)

7. Mobile is now

8. mobile metrics | smartphone majority
Consumers are switching - 107 million users in U.S.
OPA:A Portrait of Today’s Smartphone User - 08/12
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
2011 2012
57% this year

9. mobile metrics | cross platform readership
They are not tied to a
single device
Four Platforms
4%
Three Platforms
17%
Two Platforms
33%
One Platform
46%
Measuring Print, Computer, Smartphone, Tablet. Question: Which, if any, of the following did you do in the past SEVEN days? (N=2,518) Newspaper Multiplatform Usage, Newspaper
Association of America, 2012.

10. mobile metrics | widely read
They are using multiple news sources
Question: About how many different news websites (from any source), news apps or related sources do you regularly
check or follow on your [platform used]? Total Samples
Computer Smartphone Tablet
4.0
3.4
3.7

11. We will spend $25 billion on apps this year, $50b by 2015 (movies = $10b)
We spend 120 minutes in apps daily (Games = 51 min, News = 3 min )
34% of smartphone owners go online primarily via phones
mobile metrics | bottom line

12. So, 34% see only this

13. If it doesn’t work on mobile,
It doesn’t work.

14. responsive web design | device friendly
480px 600px 768px 1024px 1200px
7” Tablets 10” Tablets 10” Tablets WidescreenSmall

15. mobile first | rwd is just the start
1
2
3
4
5

16. mobile content | nothing new

17. but it’s not just about content
Security
Environment
Automation
Entertainment
Appliances
Health
Fitness
Wearables
News
Directions
WeatherSports
Time
Retail
Payment

18. life support
Your phone can wake you up in the morning and warn you of too
much CO2 in the house; Track your morning fitness routine and
still get you to work on time; Get you deals at Target and check
your credit card balance; Let you buy lunch and count the calories;
Alert you to breaking news and route you around traffic on the way
home; Set your home DVR to record ‘Breaking Bad’ or order and
play season one on Netflix.
https://bitly.com/14OAv4V
The death of NFC and the potential of the new news bundle
“
”

19. question
If you are a smartphone owner
When is the first time you picked up the phone this morning?
When is the last time you will put it down tonight?

20. To serve mobile readers
We need to live mobile

21. mobile is magic

22. It knows where you are
mobile magic

23. Who your friends are
mobile magic

24. What you are doing
mobile magic

25. What music you like
mobile magic

26. How much you weigh
mobile magic

27. Your credit card number
mobile magic

28. It even makes phone calls
mobile magic

29. “A technology’s overall capacity
to produce unprompted change
driven by large, varied, and
uncoordinated audiences.”
- Jonathan Zittrain
generativity

30. “[Consumers] don't think in terms of
demographics or product categories, but
rather, jobs just arise in their lives, and they
hire products or services to get the job
done."
-Clayton Christensen
Jobs to be Done

31. “What would make
my day better would
be a responsively
designed news site
using javascript
media queries.”
Original photo by Flickr user KaterHa

32. Good user experience
=
Setting users free

33. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
“
”
Hamlet, act 1 scene 4
Shakespeare | product manager

34. complexity ≠ value
Journalists consider adding detail inherently good
For product innovation subtraction is inherently better

35. usability | cognitive factors
Jordan Julien - uxmag.com http://dmk.im/H18NYg

36. so, what to do?
Listen to readers
Solve their problems, not ours
Live mobile first
Don’t be perfect
Be good journalists

37. Damon Kiesow
delicious.com/dkiesow/mobile
@dkiesow
damon.kiesow@globe.com
thanks | questions?