Why young consumers are not open to mobile marketing communications

This paper explores young people's motivations for using mobile phones. Older adolescents' everyday use of traditional and new forms of mediated communication were explored in the context of their everyday lives, with data generated from self-completion questionnaires, diaries and mini focus groups. The findings confirm the universal appeal of mobile phones to a youth audience. Social and entertainment-related motivations dominated, while information and commercially orientated contact were less appealing. While marketers are excited by the reach and possibilities for personalisation offered by mobile phones, young people associated commercial appropriation of this medium with irritation, intrusion and mistrust. In other words, while marketers celebrated mobile phones as a 'brand in the hand' of youth markets, young people themselves valued their mobiles as a 'friend in the hand'. This suggests that the way forward for mobile marketing communications is not seeking or pretending to be young consumers' friend, butrather offering content that helps them maintain or develop the personal friendships that matter to them

How can we use mobile apps for disaster communications in Taiwan: Problems and possible practice

The growth rate of global smart phone in 2010 is as high as 78.1%, showing that smart phone gradually becomes the mainstream in the mobile phone market. Smart phone has the function of installing applications, provides users with more diversified mobile value-added services and will change users' communication habits in the future. Mobile communication follows the development trend of 3G and WiMAX, make users can link with mobile software stores through internet, downloading all kinds of applications, which has provided human beings with more diversified information, and gradually changed people's living habits. With the widespread of smart phone in Taiwan and many mobile applications start to go popular in market, people are crazy about downloading mobile applications, and different applications create different types of communications. Within a trend of smart phone and massive mobile apps go popular in Taiwan, what can we do to apply these tools for disaster communications? And compare to other infrastructure-level support, is mobile app a feasible route for disaster communications? What is the possible uses and challenges. --

Toward a Uses and Gratification\u27s Model of Twitter

This study proposed a uses and gratifications model of Twitter, an internet medium and micro-blog--a platform with both mass and interpersonal communication features for sending short messages to others. A survey was conducted among 242 Twitter users to test the model, including a standard investigation of gratifications sought and gratifications obtained of Twitter usage. In addition, expectations and availability of usage behaviors from McLeod and Becker\u27s (1981) uses and gratifications model were examined. In the model, expectations were conceptualized as user expectations of satisfaction and operationalized as the difference between users\u27 gratifications sought and gratifications actually obtained. Usage behavior availability was conceptualized as accessibility. The model hypothesized that (a) expectations of satisfaction are positively related to Twitter use; (b) accessibility is positively related to both expectations of satisfaction and Twitter use; and (c) that prior Twitter experience is negatively related to expectations of satisfaction and positively related to Twitter use. Multivariate analysis found two gratifications factors--social and information. Accessibility was positively related to expectations of satisfaction, but not Twitter use. Prior Twitter experience was positively related to Twitter use, but not expectations of satisfaction. Expectations of satisfaction also did not significantly predict Twitter use as the differences between gratifications sought and obtained were small. Counterintuitive to previous research noting social aspects of the internet, information gratifications significantly predicted Twitter use, while social gratifications did not

A Consumer Perspective on Mobile Market Evolution

In 2007 (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo) we performed a wide research on consumer behavior in the Italian mobile communication market. Using a multidimensional segmentation approach, we identified three consumer clusters according to lifestyles, mobile phone use motivations and product attributes. One of the most interesting finding was that two clusters out of three were characterized by a minor propensity to an integrated and service-oriented use of mobile communication. In other words, some consumers conceived mobile phone not only as a simple communication devices, but more like a technologically advanced multipurpose tool. In mid-2000s Italian mobile companies and operators tried to push mobile communication market toward an integrated use, mostly relying on videophone communication. Although videophone communication had a very low impact on mobile market, integrated and service oriented use of cellular phones are becoming more and more the pillars of mobile communication market. Considering that the mobile communication market changes quickly under the spur of many technological innovations, new challenges or opportunities stem from the exploitation of innovations in mobile devices. The service economy (Fuchs, 1968; Gustafsson & Johnson, 2003), that implies the shift of manufacturers from goods selling to services delivering, is one of those challenges for mobile industry. Mainly since 2007, with the iPhone introduction, the “servitization” (Vandermerwe & Rada, 1988) has been an extending trend (Neely, 2007) among the mobile phones suppliers as they try to mix in their offerings either good and service, integrating phone devices with increasing software and applications. In a supplier perspective, this shift has an important impact on economical aspects, in term of cash-flows growth, or additional revenues - those streaming from selling more complementary services for products. Nevertheless, servitization also brings implications in the operation management, in the innovation strategy and compels providers to revise their business model also. But what is happening in the consumer perspective? A mass-market product like the mobile phone becomes extremely customizable by the complementary services that can be integrated into it: software updating allows customers to entail the mobile phone functionality on their unique needs. Analyzing the consumer perspective through the adoption of a behavior model above outlined (Mazzoni, 1995) and already applied and tested into the exploration of mobile market (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo, 2007), this chapter aims - through a literature review - to understand how changes in the offerings can affect the three dimensions: lifestyles, use motivations and product attributes. Particularly, if shifts in product attributes are clear and evident, the chapter aims to consider the impact in the way in which customer’s expectations, needs and use of mobile phones are transforming

Uses and attitudes of young people toward technology and mobile telephony

This paper aims at showing how young people are developing new and innovative ways of interacting using technology. Previous literature shows that technology adoption depends not only on the technology per se, but also on situational and contextual issues. Mobile telephony has been claimed to change young people's lifestyles, although only scarce empirical evidence exists. We have conducted an empirical study in which we first analyze the existence of differences in technology adoption, acquisition, and usage of technology and mobile telephony between young people in general and those that are online. We find that there are some significant differences in certain dimensions. Next, we carried out the same analysis differentiating between young people that assess themselves as technology-savvy and those that consider themselves inexpert in technology matters. We find that patterns of mobile phone usage in these two groups vary significantly along all analyzed dimensions.mobile telephony; Internet; technology adoption; uses and attitudes;

La televisión necesita una llamada digital: Cómo el multi-pantalla fomenta la participación, la interacción social y la inmersión. Un estudio exploratorio en Portugal

La proliferación de las tecnologías digitales, junto con el aumento de las tasas de adopción de internet y dispositivos móviles, están reconfigurando el panorama mediático contemporáneo y fomentando nuevas prácticas de uso. La televisión está pasando por un proceso de remediación o hibridación, ya que el contenido se está convirtiendo en transmedia y los espectadores en multiplataforma. Este artículo trata del multi-pantalla, es decir, el uso de dispositivos con pantalla mientras se ve la televisión. El objetivo de esta investigación es la identificación de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes y las motivaciones, usos y gratificaciones detrás de esas conductas. Nuestro enfoque teórico articula el concepto de multi-pantalla, y la descripción de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes, con una visión general de la investigación sobre las comunicaciones móviles y las motivaciones para su adopción y uso. Nuestro trabajo empírico consiste en focus groups con usuarios multi-pantalla, donde fueron explorados sus objetivos, necesidades, preferencias y expectativas asociados a estas prácticas. Nuestros resultados identifican dos tipos principales de motivaciones para el multi-pantalla: utilitaria (asociado con hacer un mejor uso del tiempo y ser más eficaces en el cumplimiento de tareas) y afectiva (relacionado con una necesidad constante e inevitable de estar puesto al día con lo que está pasando en el mundo y estar conectado a la red de estrechas relaciones de uno). Los dispositivos móviles añaden un estrato digital a la televisión, y esto se caracteriza, más a menudo, por no tener relación con el contenido de la televisión.The proliferation of digital technologies, along with increasing rates of adoption of the internet and mobile devices, are reconfiguring the contemporary media landscape and fostering new usage practices. The television is undergoing a remediation or hybridization process, as content becomes transmedia and viewers become multiplatform. This paper focuses on multi-screening, i.e. the use of screened devices during television viewing. The aim of this research is identifying the most common multiscreening practices and the motivations, uses and gratifications behind those behaviors. Our theoretical framework articulates a discussion of the concept of multi-screening itself, along with a description of the most common multiscreening practices, with an overview of previous research in the Mobile Communication subfield on the motivations for mobile phone adoption and use. Our empirical work consists of focus group discussions with multi-screeners, exploring the goals, needs, preferences and expectations associated to these practices. Our results identify two main types of motivations for multi-screening: utilitarian (associated with making a better use of time and being more effective in accomplishing tasks) and affective (related to a constant and pressing need of being up-to-date with what is going on in the world and being connected to one’s network of close relationships). Mobile devices add a digital layer to television viewing, and this layer is more often unrelated to television content than related

The impact and penetration of location-based services

Since the invention of digital technology, its development has followed an entrenched path ofminiaturisation and decentralisation with increasing focus on individual and niche applications. Computerhardware has moved from remote centres to desktop and hand held devices whilst being embedded invarious material infrastructures. Software has followed the same course. The entire process has convergedon a path where various analogue devices have become digital and are increasingly being embedded inmachines at the smallest scale. In a parallel but essential development, there has been a convergence ofcomputers with communications ensuring that the delivery and interaction mechanisms for computersoftware is now focused on networks of individuals, not simply through the desktop, but in mobilecontexts. Various inert media such as fixed television is becoming more flexible as computers and visualmedia are becoming one.With such massive convergence and miniaturisation, new software and new applications define the cuttingedge. As computers are being increasingly tailored to individual niches, then new digital services areemerging, many of which represent applications which hitherto did not exist or at best were rarely focusedon a mass market. Location based services form one such application and in this paper, we will bothspeculate on and make some initial predictions of the geographical extent to which such services willpenetrate different markets. We define such services in detail below but suffice it to say at this stage thatsuch functions involve the delivery of traditional services using digital media and telecommunications.High profile applications are now being focused on hand held devices, typically involving information onproduct location and entertainment but wider applications involve fixed installations on the desktop whereservices are delivered through traditional fixed infrastructure. Both wire and wireless applications definethis domain. The market for such services is inevitably volatile and unpredictable at this early stage but wewill attempt here to provide some rudimentary estimates of what might happen in the next five to tenyears.The ?network society? which has developed through this convergence, is, according to Castells (1989,2000) changing and re-structuring the material basis of society such that information has come todominate wealth creation in a way that information is both a raw material of production and an outcome ofproduction as a tradable commodity. This has been fuelled by the way technology has expanded followingMoore?s Law and by fundamental changes in the way telecommunications, finance, insurance, utilitiesand so on is being regulated. Location based services are becoming an integral part of this fabric and thesereflect yet another convergence between geographic information systems, global positioning systems, andsatellite remote sensing. The first geographical information system, CGIS, was developed as part of theCanada Land Inventory in 1965 and the acronym ?GIS? was introduced in 1970. 1971 saw the firstcommercial satellite, LANDSAT-1. The 1970s also saw prototypes of ISDN and mobile telephone and theintroduction of TCP/IP as the dominant network protocol. The 1980s saw the IBM XT (1982) and thebeginning of de-regulation in the US, Europe and Japan of key sectors within the economy. Finally in the 1990s, we saw the introduction of the World Wide Web and the ubiquitous pervasion of business andrecreation of networked PC?s, the Internet, mobile communications and the growing use of GPS forlocational positioning and GIS for the organisation and visualisation of spatial data. By the end of the 20thcentury, the number of mobile telephone users had reached 700 million worldwide. The increasingmobility of individuals, the anticipated availability of broadband communications for mobile devices andthe growing volumes of location specific information available in databases will inevitably lead to thedemand for services that will deliver location related information to individuals on the move. Suchlocation based services (LBS) although in a very early stage of development, are likely to play anincreasingly important part in the development of social structures and business in the coming decades.In this paper we begin by defining location based services within the context we have just sketched. Wethen develop a simple model of the market for location-based services developing the standard non-linearsaturation model of market penetration. We illustrate this for mobile devices, namely mobile phones in thefollowing sections and then we develop an analysis of different geographical regimes which arecharacterised by different growth rates and income levels worldwide. This leads us to speculate on theextent to which location based services are beginning to take off and penetrate the market. We concludewith scenarios for future growth through the analogy of GIS and mobile penetration

Mobile Apps: Motivational Influencers

Today’s mobile device users demand mobile apps in order to maintain online social ties, to remain up-to-date with weather and new events, to be entertained, and to be productive in their professional and personal lives, no matter where they are. This emergent research study examines the perceptions of individuals regarding the motivational power of mobile apps post-adoption. A survey of college-age individuals is being performed beginning the spring of 2017, and among the findings expected is a positive confirmation that mobile apps are motivational influencers toward education, entertainment, communication, social, and other purposes

Uses and gratifications of multiscreen news consumption among Spanish youth

This paper aims to describe how Spanish youth use multiscreen in a news search context, and what are the gratifications they obtain through this multichannel model. A survey was responded by a panel of 441 individuals representative of the national population in an 18-35 age range. Five gratifications were found: the desire to obtain “information in real time,” “social interaction,” “comprehension,” “leisure,” and “habit.” The desire to obtain “information in real time” predicts multiscreen use behavior when searching for news. Moreover, three factors are relevant when predicting the duration of multiscreen use: “information in real time,” “social interaction,” and “leisure.”Este artículo tiene como objetivo describir cómo los jóvenes españoles utilizan la multipantalla en un contexto de búsqueda de noticias y cuáles son las gratificaciones que obtienen a través de este modelo multicanal. Se realizó una encuesta que fue respondida por un panel de 441 individuos representativos de la población nacional en un rango de edad de 18 a 35 años. Se encontraron cinco gratificaciones: el deseo de obtener “información en tiempo real”, “interacción social”, “comprensión”, “ocio” y “hábito”. El deseo de obtener “información en tiempo real” predice el comportamiento de uso de múltiples pantallas en la búsqueda de noticias. Además, tres factores son relevantes al predecir la duración del uso de múltiples pantallas: “información en tiempo real”, “interacción social” y “ocio”