Media:Medium

There's a new feature coming to Google Maps Mobile that might interest marketers. Google is adding the "My Location" feature to their mobile maps application. This feature doesn't require GPS tracking to know where you are. It uses cell phone towers to determine your location, thus eliminating the need to type in your address. You can then search for nearby businesses and map your way there.

What I really like about this technology is that it takes Google's context based ad system into the streets in a sense. It expands on the concept of search. Searching for a repair shop or any other service happens on computer as much as it does on the road. The "My Location" feature for mobile maps allows for more relevant mobile messaging. That's good for advertisers, but better for people simply looking for something nearby. Mobile advertising is growing slowly, but little advancements like this have big implications. Expect companies like Coke and Pepsi to use this technology to guide you to the nearest vending machine or retailer.  Proximity based mobile ads will go main stream as more phones become open source in the next few years.

I read on Mashable that Myspace is considering a redesign. We've all been to the cluttered a Myspace page full of music and all kinds of colorful expressions. It's not always pleasant. The author of the article suggests that Myspace needs more than a face lift. He believes that Myspace should follow Facebook's lead and open itself up to a higher level of open source development. That's a start. I believe that Facebook's open source is as much of a problem as it is a solution. Facebook pages with dozens of applications feel like the cluttered Myspace pages. They are also slow to load. Facebook could use a better level of moderation to keep pages from becoming cluttered with corny applications that lose their novelty after a week.  Perhaps a voting device which allows users to vote in upcoming applications that are "questionable".

User centered design is a good start, but users are changing the way they consume digital content in general. People who once read dozens of blogs are finding it easier to subscribe to RSS feeds and get all the information they need from iGoogle or Netvibes. People are opting for aggregation and condensed versions of the stuff they like in order to get more stuff. Social networks are no different. Many people are on more than one social network just like they read more than one blog. Once developers begin creating app versions of Myspace, Facebook, and other social sites for use on iGoogle, there will be less reason to suffer through all the clutter. The user will be in control once again thanks to open source. Advertisers will have to find alternative ways to get into your face. This is happening faster than you think. Facebook and Myspace will become open source applications on a larger all-in-one virtual desktop aggregator that combines RSS, Social media and other online resources. We're less than a year away from this. It will take a few more years to become the norm, maybe it's time to start redesigning advertising revenue models on social networks and social network applications.

On October 1st, Sprint raised the SMS text message rate to 20 cents per 160 character message. Sprint customers complained but nothing is going to change, yet. Texting has become a part of our lives and wireless carriers know that. In reality, when we send a text message, we are only sending a small amount of data. If we put a value on that data, SMS is costing us somewhere between $1,000-2000 dollars per Megabyte. That should raise some red flags in the near future. A few companies are finding ways to get around the SMS standard by routing messages through e-mail over the internet, which costs less. Expect to see free SMS texting sponsored by light advertising in the very near future. Sprint can't charge this amount for too long. Phones are going open source. SMS texting at ridiculously high prices  will be a thing of the past in about three years.

The Writers Guild of America understands that technology has created a new media landscape. The writers want royalties for content distributed over the internet. The production companies disagree. Many see streaming media as the future of entertainment distribution. I agree in part. Writers should get paid for their work, but the internet does not respond well to high billings for content. People online expect low prices if any for their digital media. Producers must find new revenue streams in order to  keep making huge profits.

Remember Mp3's. The music industry decided to fight the internet until they figured out a way to make money. They discovered that the internet could be used for distribution in addition to marketing. The entertainment industry needs to come up with a way to cut distribution and marketing costs using the internet. Once that happens, they will be able to pay writers and make a profit. As long as producers keep fighting technology they will keep losing. Streaming entertainment is already here, it's time to start acting like it.

What would it take to build a better mobile phone? That's the question that the Open Handset Alliance asked. The alliance is comprised of retailers, manufacturers and developers. All with the common goal of making mobile devices open source. The new open source platform is called Android.

When you think of mobile phones these days, the last thing you think of is the actual phone. Voice service has become a commodity. Carriers are looking at data, music and other features to make the real money. I see phones getting better with open source, but I also see a new generation of devices being created. I see wireless devices that do everything but make calls becoming popular. I also predict a new industry connecting these products products. The new industry will function like a hybrid cable and data connection carrier.

"Media buyers' simmering resentment toward the broadcast networks for continuing to sell scatter inventory instead of offering those slots as make goods for the much lower than anticipated prime-time ratings yielded by the new C3 metric has come to a boil. Several buyers said the networks have sold so much fourth-quarter ad inventory that many retailers who need make goods now, as the holiday season approaches, can't be accommodated. The buying execs also said that although many retailers need pod exclusivity, most pods are already filled with retail ads through the end of the fourth quarter. "If an advertiser can't get the gross rating points for their commercials when they need them, what is the point of running the ads at all?" said one media buyer who did not want to speak for attribution."  Adage.com

The current problems with media buying will be corrected once an overhaul of the entire system is considered.

It's no surprise that Oprah is going where the viewers are. I'm not saying that people are replacing TV with YouTube, but people are watching a lot of the YouTube. YouTube is one of the fastest growing media channels ever. Oprah is using YouTube the right way. She created the YouTube "Oprah Channel" to supplement her existing line-up. She will offer behind the scenes footage and other features for Oprah freaks to get their fix while they are on the net. You can expect to see more entertainers creating their own channels. You can expect movie companies to use YouTube to show "the making of footage" and other special features that would normally be found on the DVD.