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Reading
the March edition of “Buzz Online”,
was like time traveling…to the past!
And this has nothing to do with the World’s
first, last and only Time Traveling Convention
(held recently in the MIT campus). The realization
of obsolescence was because even the latest Internet
phenomenon – “Blogging”- has
now been officially relegated to “passé”
status. History. Relic. Dinosaur. Cher. |
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By
what? |
| Well,
while the world was sleeping, Google (through
Blogger.com) has launched what is called the “MOBLOG”
and ushered in an era of “MOBLOGGING”!!!
(No, the Gotti family isn’t buying out Blogger.com).
“Moblogging” is the phenomenon of
“MOBILE BLOGGING” using your mobile
phone, PDA, Blackberry…whatever. |
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So? |
| Basically
you can “moblog” while in a train,
in a restaurant, chatting with your girlfriend,
stuck in a boring party and even while rock climbing!
(If by any chance you slip and fall, and the odds
are high if you are using a mobile while climbing
a mountain, please take a photo using your camera
phone and moblog the photo instantly to your personal
moblog page with your last words before the thud!
It will truly be your final hurrah). |
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| Yes.
The go.blogger.com system ensures a “one
step” moblog process. Basically you can
send an MMS, SMS or email to go@blogger.com and
it will automatically create a new blog in your
name. Your photo, along with any text you add,
can be “mobloaded” to that blog on
the spot, after which go.blogger.com will sms
you back with the address so you can visit your
new moblog on the web1
. And here's the best part: it's free! |
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| Interesting.
But can it affect consumers in India? |
| Not
now, but soon. For starters, India already has
around 53 million mobile users (more than double
the 25 million internet users today)2,
and this means, that even if ancient blogging
tools (which require a computer and internet connection)
are unavailable, unaffordable or unreachable,
consumers in India can still voice their e-opinions
through their mobile handset. This automatically
means that any idea and/or strategy of advertising
through internet blogs should now compulsorily
include the mobile medium. And it's just a matter
of time that Google extend their contextual ad
tool Adwords to analyse moblog content (in addition
to gmail, google and blogger) and send content
related sms/mms ads straight to your handset.
This could be the killer app that “mobile
behavioural targeting” requires. The fact
that even so called “non SEC A/B”
consumers in rural areas can afford to buy or
intend to buy a handset in the future means that
the previously popular idea that only television
can reach these mass consumers better is now simply…obsolete.
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