The Association Digital Revolution: In The Palm Of Your Members’ Hand

Photo by Tammy Green (aka Zesmerelda) http://www.flickr.com/photos/zesmerelda/3583867080/in/photostream/

The Pew Internet Mobile Access 2010 July report shows that six in ten Americans go online wirelessly to access the Internet using a laptop or cell phone.

Synovate reports 82 percent of Americans never leave home without their mobile phones, while 42 percent say they cannot live without these devices. Roughly 4 billion people worldwide currently have mobile phones, and, according to one estimate, 70 percent of the world’s population will be carrying a mobile device by the end of this year, up from just 13 percent at the beginning of 2001. [Why The Future Of Associating Is Mobile, by Jeff De Cagna, TechnoScope Newsletter, ASAE. February 2010]

Both the Pew Internet Mobile and Synovate reports illustrate how mobile phones have become increasingly important in the digital debate about the digital divide. The Pew Research Center report concludes:

“African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos continue to be among the most active users of the mobile web. Cell phone ownership is higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites (87% vs. 80%) and minority cell phone owners take advantage of a much greater range of their phones’ features compared with white mobile phone users. In total, 64% of African-Americans access the internet from a laptop or mobile phone, a seven-point increase from the 57% who did so at a similar point in 2009.”

Association Opportunity With Mobile Devices – Highlights From ASAE 2010 Session

The growth in the digital mobile revolution presents a huge opportunity for associations and tax-exempt organizations. Here are some of my notes from the ASAE 2010 education session “Engage Your Members Using Mobile Devices” by Jeff De Cagna, chief strategist and founder, Principled Innovation, LLC, Joe Rominiecki, managing editor, newsletters, ASAE & The Center, Renato Sogueco, CIO, Society of American Florists.

A. Mobile is a disruptive business model innovation opportunity for associations and tax-exempt organizations.

Mobile devices include smart phones, iPads and other tablet portable mobile devices. Association stakeholders increasingly manage their digital and personal lives via smartphones. The mobile device is often seen as our problem solving device, carried with us everywhere we go.

B. Mobile is reshaping our professional culture and practice in important ways.

Stanford University distributed iPads to all 2010 first year medical school and master’s of medicine students. The prevalence of mobile Wi-Fi devices has great implications for education and meetings. Mobile is inherently a social platform that offers membership organizations a new way to design new relationships with stakeholders.

C. Four Mobile User Groups

1. Mobile First – users for who mobile is their primary access point to Internet
2. Mobile Lifestyle – users who love the conveniences of mobile services when they’re on the move
3. Addicted Devotees – users who are always on their smartphones even in Internet connected environments
4.  Social Animals – users who are particularly driven by social networking
Source: Erik Huggers, Our Mobile Future

Tip: Use Google Analytics to research how much traffic is coming to your association website via mobile devices.

D. Possible Mobile Options For Associations

1. Curated knowledge flows
2. Location specific resources
3. Micro engagement – for minutes at a time used on their device
4. Social learning networks – taking it beyond chit chat to peer2peer learning

E. Members Want Deep Support When Considering Mobile Information

1. Sense making
2. Meaning-making
3. Decision-making

F. The Future Of Associating Is Mobile

The 21st Century Association creates a complete mobile experience for its stakeholders. Mobile should challenge your association assumptions about value creating. Three areas associations should consider for mobile:

1. Mobile Web
2. Mobile App
3. Mobile Marketing

Two tools to use to check to see if your site is mobile ready:
Testiphone.com and ready.mobi

How is mobile affecting your delivery of information to your members? How are you addressing the need to be accessible to your members when they need to problem solve or leverage their membership resources?